what is spiritual freedom essay

Natural and Spiritual Freedom

One late summer afternoon , I am sitting on top of a mountain in northern Sweden. The ocean below me is calm and stretches toward an open horizon. There is no other human being in sight and barely a sound can be heard. Only a solitary seagull is gliding on the wind. Like so many times before, I find it mesmerizing to follow a seagull as it hovers in the air and lingers over the landscape. For as long as I can remember, seagulls have been a part of my life. Every summer morning at our family house I wake up to their shrill vocals as they ascend over the mountains or descend into the sea. When we return from fishing they accompany us, waiting for their part of the daily catch. In the evenings, I often stand on the beach just to watch their line of flight. Even in foreign cities, the sight or sound of a seagull feels like a message from home and brings back a flood of memories. Yet I have never encountered a seagull the way it happens this afternoon. As the seagull stretches its wings and turns toward an adjacent mountain, I try to imagine how the wind may feel and how the landscape may appear for the seagull .

Of course, I will never know what it is like to be a seagull. Nevertheless, inhabiting the question of what it means to be a seagull leads me to the notion of freedom at the heart of this essay. In trying to apprehend a life that is so different from my own, I am reminded that I am both a natural being (in what I take myself to share with the seagull) and a spiritual being (in how I take myself to be different from the seagull).

Let me begin with what the seagull and I have in common. We are both living beings. As such there is always something at stake for us in our activities. We must do something–acquire nourishment, adapt to our environment–to sustain our lives. Likewise, both of us are capable of self-movement and self-determination. The seagull walks or flies of its own accord, and no one except the seagull can determine how long it will linger in the air before diving into the ocean to catch a fish or settling down on a mountain to rest. Furthermore, both the seagull and I are responsive to a distinction between appearance and essence, between how we take things and what they turn out to be . If the seagull dives for a fish that it takes to be edible and it turns out to be inedible, the seagull will respond by discarding the fish. This is not simply a response to stimuli but a response to stimuli in terms of what counts as food for the seagull. The seagull is not merely an object in the world but an agent for which things appear as nourishing or damaging, appealing or threatening.

The agency is especially clear if we compare the seagull with the mountain on which it lands. The mountain is not alive. The mountain was there long before the seagull or I existed–and it may be there long after we are gone–but the mountain does not care. Whether the sun is shining or the rain is pouring down, whether there are earthquakes that rip it apart or centuries of stability that leave it intact, the mountain does not care. Nothing that happens to the mountain will ever make a difference for the mountain, since it has no self-relation. For the same reason, the mountain has no capacity for self-movement and self-determination. Because nothing is at stake for the mountain, it cannot do anything and cannot relate to anything as anything. The mountain has no purpose for itself and only acquires one for a living being that makes use of it in some way (as when the seagull lands on the mountain to rest).

The seagull, by contrast, relates to the environment through its own sentience and responds to what happens in light of its own ends. For example, certain kinds of predators show up for the seagull as something to avoid and certain kinds of fish show up as something to catch. These forms of purposive activity can become much more advanced in highly developed animals, but they are all forms of what I call natural freedom . Natural freedom provides a freedom of self-movement, but only in light of imperatives that are treated as given and ends that cannot be called into question by the agent itself. As distinct from natural freedom, spiritual freedom requires the ability to ask which imperatives to follow in light of our ends, as well as the ability to call into question, challenge, and transform our ends themselves.

Philosophers often account for the difference between human beings and other animals in terms of a difference between norm-governed behavior and instinct-determined behavior. As human beings, we are socialized into a normative understanding of who to be–e.g., man or woman, black or white, working class or aristocrat–and we act in light of those social norms. In contrast, the behavior of all other animals is supposedly hardwired by their natural instincts. This way of describing the difference, however, is misleading for at least two reasons. First, an instinct is already expressive of a norm, since it specifies something that the animal ought to do and that it can fail to do (e.g., the seagull instinctually understands that it ought to eat fish and it can fail to find any fish to eat). Second, many animals can be socialized into forms of behavior that are not hardwired by their natural instincts. For example, there are cats that behave like dogs because they have been raised by huskies, and there are huskies that behave like cats because they have been raised by cats. Such behavior is clearly not hardwired by the nature of cats or dogs but acquired through a specific way in which they are raised.

The difference between human beings and other animals, then, cannot simply be explained by the difference between instincts and norms. Rather, the decisive difference is the difference between natural and spiritual freedom. Even when a cat behaves like a husky, she does not call into question the husky way of life but treats it as the given framework for her actions. She is able to learn the husky norms but not able to understand them as norms that could be otherwise. The cat cannot understand her norms as something for which she is answerable and which can be challenged by others, since she cannot hold herself responsible for the principles that govern her actions. The cat is responsive to success and failure in her pursuits, but whether the norms that govern her pursuits are valid–whether she ought to behave like a cat or a husky–is not at issue for her.

For human beings, by contrast, the validity of norms is always implicitly and potentially explicitly at issue. We act in light of a normative understanding of ourselves–of who we should be and what we should do–but we can also challenge and change our self-understanding. We are not merely governed by norms but answerable to one another for what we do and why we do it. Even when we are socialized into an identity as though it were a natural necessity–as when we are taken to belong naturally to a certain gender, race, or class–there remains the possibility of transforming, contesting, or critically overturning our understanding of who we are. Who we can be–as well as what we can do–is inseparable from how we acknowledge and treat one another. How we can change our self-understanding therefore depends on the social practices and institutions that shape the ability to lead our lives. Moreover, any ability to lead our lives can be impaired or lost by damages to our physical and psychological constitution. Yet as long as we have a self-relation–as long as we lead our lives in any way at all–the question of who we ought to be is alive for us, since it is at work in all our activities. In engaging the question “What should I do?” we are also engaging the question “Who should I be?”–and there is no final answer to that question. This is our spiritual freedom.

The difference between natural and spiritual freedom is not a matter of metaphysical substance but a difference in the practical self-relation exhibited by human beings and other animals. Many kinds of animals exhibit forms of mourning, play, courage, deliberation, suffering, and joy. They may even in some cases (as studies of primates have shown) be able to experience a conflict of choice when certain instincts or loyalties are at odds with one another. Yet no other species we have encountered is capable of transforming its understanding of what it means to be that species. Changes in the environment can cause animal species–or certain members of species–to change patterns in their behavior, but the principles in light of which they act remain the same for as long as the species exist.

In contrast, the understanding of what it means to be human–as manifested in the actual behavior of human beings–varies dramatically across history and across the world at any given moment of history. The difference between a monk who renounces filial bonds for an ascetic life in a monastery and a father who devotes his life to taking care of his children is not merely an individual difference in behavior. Rather, the two forms of life express radically different understandings of what it means to be human. The two men may not only have different degrees of courage, but what counts as courage for them is radically different. They may not only experience different degrees of grief and joy, but what counts as grief and joy for them is radically different. Even the experience of suffering is never merely a brute fact for us as human beings but an experience we understand and respond to in light of what matters to us. Such mattering is not reducible to our biological-physiological constitution; it depends on our commitments. We are certainly subject to biological constraints–and we cannot even in principle transcend all such constraints–but we can (and do) change our relation to these constraints. There is no natural way for us to be and no species requirements that can exhaustively determine the principles in light of which we act. Rather, what we do and who we take ourselves to be are inseparable from a historical-normative framework that must be upheld by us and may be transformed by us.

Let me be clear about the status of my argument. I am not asserting that only human beings are spiritually free. It is possible that we may discover other species that are spiritually free or that we may create artificial forms of life that are capable of spiritual freedom. That is an empirical question, which I do not seek to answer. My aim is not to decide which species are spiritually free, but to clarify the conditions of spiritual freedom . Whether certain other animals are spiritually free–or whether we can come to engineer living beings who are spiritually free–is a separate and subordinate question, which in itself presupposes an answer to the question of what it means to be a free, spiritual being.

Two clarifications are here in order. First, the distinction between natural and spiritual freedom is not a hierarchical distinction. That we are spiritually free does not make us inherently better than other animals, but it does mean that we are free in a qualitatively different sense. Because we can call into question the purposes of our own actions, we can hold ourselves to principles of justice, but we can also engage in forms of cruelty that go far beyond anything observed in other species. Second, the distinction between natural and spiritual freedom does not legitimize the exploitation of other animals. Many contemporary thinkers are critical of any distinction between humans and other animals since they fear that such a distinction will serve to justify sexism or racism, as well as buttress the mistreatment of other species and the willful extraction of natural resources. Yet such “post-humanism” rests on a conflation of historical facts and philosophical arguments. As a matter of historical fact, it is true that a human/animal distinction often has been employed to classify certain genders or races as “subhuman” and to legitimize ruthless exploitation of the nonhuman world. The critique of such politics is well taken, as is the reminder that we too are animals and dependent on the fate of our environment. However, it does not follow from these facts that any distinction between humans and other animals is illegitimate or politically pernicious. On the contrary, the pathos of post-humanist politics itself tacitly relies on a distinction between natural and spiritual freedom. When post-humanist thinkers take us to task for being sexist, racist, or too centered on our own species, they must assume that we are capable of calling into question the guiding principles of our actions. Otherwise it would make no sense to criticize our principles and enjoin us to adopt different ideals. Likewise, it is clear that no post-humanist thinker seriously believes that other animals are spiritually free. If they were, we should criticize not only humans but also other animals for being sexist and too centered on the well-being of their own species.

To deny the distinction between natural and spiritual freedom is therefore an act of bad faith. Any political struggle for a better treatment of other animals–or for a more respectful relation to the natural environment–requires spiritual freedom. We have to be able to renounce our prior commitments and hold ourselves to a new ideal. No one is inclined to place the same demands on other animals because we implicitly understand the distinction between natural and spiritual freedom. It would be absurd to reproach the seagull for eating fish, but it can make sense for me to stop eating other animals, since I am capable of transforming my relation to the norms that structure my world. For a naturally free being like the seagull, there is a normative “ought” that guides its actions (e.g., to eat fish in order to survive), but it cannot call into question the norm–the ought–itself. Natural freedom has a single ought structure, since the agent cannot question its guiding principles and ask itself what it should do. Spiritual freedom, by contrast, is characterized by a double ought structure. As a spiritually free being, I can ask myself what I should do, since I am answerable not only for my actions but also for the normative principles that guide my actions. There are not only demands concerning what I ought to do; there is also the question if I ought to do what I supposedly ought to do.

To be clear, our spiritual freedom does not entail that we can question all the norms of our lives at once, and we are not free to invent our principles out of nothing. Rather, our spiritual freedom should be understood in terms of the philosophical model that is known as Neurath’s boat. “We are like sailors who have to rebuild their ship on the open sea, without ever being able to dismantle it in dry dock,” we learn from the famous argument by the philosopher of science Otto Neurath. “Where a beam is taken away a new one must at once be put there, and for this the rest of the ship is used as support. By using the old beams and driftwood, the ship can be shaped entirely anew, but only by gradual reconstruction.” Neurath presented his boat as a model for the acquisition and transformation of scientific knowledge, but his boat analogy can help us to grasp the conditions for any form of spiritual freedom. In leading my life, I cannot retreat to an unshakable foundation or a view from nowhere. I find myself in Neurath’s boat, which is out on the open sea from the beginning until the end. Who I can be–how my boat is built–depends on socially shared norms, which I am bound to uphold, challenge, or transform through what I do. I can alter or replace parts of the boat, as long as enough of the other parts remain in place to keep myself afloat. I can even undertake major renovations, but my life depends on maintaining some form of integrity. Even if I try to wreck the boat–or try to refrain from repairing the boat so that it will sink–I have to sustain that decision with integrity for it to be my decision; I have to try to wreck the boat and try to give up my life.

I can ask myself what I am doing with my life and transform the commitments that define who I am. Yet all such transformations are possible only from the practical standpoint of trying to lead my life, just as all renovations of the boat are possible only from a practical standpoint that is trying to maintain the integrity of the boat. Even when I question who I am–even when I tear planks from the bottom of the boat–the questioning itself only makes sense because I am committed to having integrity as a person. To grasp anything as part of my life–as something that I do or experience–is not a theoretical observation of myself but a practical activity of spiritual self-maintenance in which I am always engaged.

The activity of spiritual self-maintenance should not be conflated with self-preservation, and it is not necessarily conservative, since it is the condition of possibility for all forms of self-transformation. For anything I do to be intelligible as my action–and for anything that happens to be intelligible as something that I experience–I have to grasp it as part of my life. Moreover, since my life always runs the risk of falling apart, I must always sustain or renew my life in practice. The form of my self-consciousness is not primarily an explicit reflection regarding who I am but the implicit activity of spiritual self-maintenance that is built into everything I do and everything I experience. The integrity of my life cannot be established once and for all but is inherently fragile. Indeed, the fragility of integrity–the risk of breaking apart and sinking to the bottom of the sea–is a necessary part of why it matters to maintain any form of integrity in the first place.

For the same reason, my self-consciousness cannot place me outside of my life. Even in my most explicit forms of self-reflection, I cannot be detached. On the contrary, my self-consciousness only exists in and through the practical activity of sustaining my life, which means that there is no contemplative self to which I can withdraw. Even the project of retreating into passivity is still a project that requires my engagement–a project to which I have to hold myself–and by the same token a project that I can transform or call into question. This practical activity of leading my life is the minimal form of my self-consciousness and the condition of my spiritual freedom.

The distinction between natural and spiritual freedom proceeds from the secular notion of life that underlies all my arguments. From a religious perspective, a life that ends in death is meaningless and without purpose. For life to have meaning and purpose, it must ultimately be grounded or absorbed in something that is infinite–something that will never die. My argument is, on the contrary, that any purpose of life depends on the prospect of death. This is not to say that death is the purpose of life. Death is not a purpose, not a completion or fulfillment of anything, but rather the irrevocable loss of life. The point, however, is that nothing can be at stake in life–that no purpose can matter–without running the risk of death. Life can matter only in light of death.

Our individual and collective efforts to sustain life bear witness to our relation to death. It is a central feature of our spiritual life that we remember the dead, just as it is a central feature of our spiritual life that we seek to be remembered after our death. This importance of memory–of recollection–is inseparable from the risk of forgetting. Our fidelity to past generations is animated by the sense that they live on only insofar as we sustain their memory, just as we will live on only insofar as future generations sustain the memory of us. This form of living on should not be conflated with a religious notion of eternal life. If we are compelled to keep the memory of the dead–if we make ourselves responsible for keeping them alive in us–it is because we recognize that they are dead. Likewise, if we are concerned that we will be remembered after we are gone, it is because we recognize that we will be dead. Without the prospect of death–without the prospect that our lives will be lost forever–there would be no purpose in maintaining either natural or spiritual life. Life cannot make sense as life without death. Only a finite life can make sense as a life . This is the argument that I will deepen here, in showing how finitude is the condition of possibility for both any form of natural life and any form of spiritual life.

The starting point for my argument is the concept of life as characterized by self-maintenance. A living being cannot simply exist but must sustain and reproduce itself through its own activity. The concept of self-maintenance underlies all definitions of living organisms and living systems as self-organizing. To be alive is necessarily to have a self-relation, and any self-relation consists in the activity of self-maintenance. Nonliving entities do not have any form of self-relation because they are not doing anything to maintain their own existence. A stone simply lies on the ground for an indefinite amount of time. Whether the stone is moved or broken has nothing to do with an activity of its own. This is the categorical distinction between the nonliving and the living. Entities that exist without the activity of self-maintenance are intelligible neither as living nor as dead but as nonliving . In contrast, an entity is intelligible as living if its existence depends on its own activity of maintaining itself. If the activity of self-maintenance ceases, the entity is intelligible no longer as living but as dead .

Philosophically considered, the concept of life must be distinguished from specific biological forms of life. To assume that life depends on specific forms of biology is question begging. We cannot define life merely by listing the traits we encounter in various species of life, since this begs the question of what makes it possible to identify these species as species of life in the first place. Current biological notions of life confirm the concept of life as self-maintenance, but they do not exhaust all possible forms of life. The concept of life is formal in the sense that it is not specific to a certain substance or substrate. We may be able to engineer forms of life that rely on an artificial substrate, and we may discover species of life (e.g., on other planets) that do not exhibit the carbon base of our currently known forms of life.

The philosophical question is what makes any life intelligible as a life. Identifying a material substance or a set of material properties is not by itself sufficient to make something intelligible as living. Rather, an entity is intelligible as living only insofar as it exhibits the purposive activity of self-maintenance. If E.T. lands in your living room, you can make sense of him as a living being, even though he is made of a material that you have never seen before. Likewise, if you land on another planet, whether the entities you encounter are living or not depends on the activity they exhibit rather than on the material of which they are made.

Which kinds of material substrates are compatible with living activity is an empirical question that cannot be settled in advance. The philosophical task is to deduce the necessary features of life from the formal characteristic of self-maintenance. What is at stake is the very idea of life–all the way from the most elementary forms of natural life to the most elevated forms of spiritual life.

The first feature we can deduce is that life must be inherently finite. The purposive activity of self-maintenance presupposes that the life of the living being depends on the activity, which is to say that the living being would disintegrate and die if it were not maintaining itself. Without this prospect of death, the purpose of self-maintenance would be unintelligible. Living activity is intelligible only for someone or something that has to keep itself alive in relation to an immanent possibility of death. If life could not be lost, there would be no vital interest in the activity of self-maintenance.

The second feature we can deduce is that life must be dependent on a fragile material body. Life cannot be reduced to a specific material substrate, but it requires some form of material body that is in need of self-maintenance. The material body of a life must be fragile in the sense that it must run the risk of disintegrating or ceasing to function. If the living being were not dependent on a fragile material body, there would be neither a subject nor an object of self-maintenance. To be alive is necessarily to be engaged in the activity of sustaining a material body that may cease to be animated.

The third feature we can deduce is that there must be an asymmetrical relation of dependence between the living and the nonliving. Any form of animation necessarily has a relation to the inanimate (the prospect of its own death), but the inverse argument does not hold. Inanimate matter does not need any form of animation in order to exist. While the living cannot exist without a relation to nonliving matter, nonliving matter can exist without any relation to the living. This is why it is intelligible that a material universe can exist before there are any living beings and why it is intelligible that a material universe can remain after all forms of life are extinguished. The very existence of life is a fragile and destructible phenomenon.

The concept of life as self-maintaining must therefore be distinguished from any idea of life as self-sufficient. The form of self-maintenance is not a form of sovereignty but a form of finitude. The reason a living being must maintain and reproduce itself is that it is not self-sufficient but susceptible to disintegration and death.

These features of the concept of life make any life intelligible as a life. To be alive is a formally distinctive way of being an entity, which is characterized by the self-maintaining activity of a fragile material being. The concept of life has two genera, which I call natural life and spiritual life. In keeping with the concept of life itself, the genera of life are defined not in terms of material substances or material properties but in terms of two different forms of life-activities. The genera of natural and spiritual life are two formally distinctive ways of being a living being, which are characterized by natural and spiritual freedom, respectively.

The genus of natural life comprises all species that exhibit the traits of natural freedom. Any species that is engaged in the purposive activity of self-maintenance–while being unable to call into question the purpose of the activity itself–belongs to the genus of natural life. The genus of natural life thereby encompasses all known species of life except human beings, all the way from plants to the most advanced primates. While these forms of life are vastly different, they all belong to the genus of natural life insofar as they remain within the bounds of natural freedom. Any forms of life that we would be able to engineer–and any forms of life that we would discover on other planets–would also formally belong to the genus of natural life, insofar as the life activities of these species were restricted to a form of natural freedom.

The first trait of natural freedom is the activity of self-reproduction. Any form of natural life is acting for the sake of self-preservation or the preservation of the species and thereby exhibits a fundamental form of self-determination. The continuous reproduction of the individual organism across a lifetime, as well as its possible replication or procreation in the form of other individuals, is an expression of the natural freedom of self-determination. The capacity for self-determination can vary greatly among different species of natural life. There is a vast difference between a plant that can replicate merely by disseminating its seeds or an insect that necessarily dies in the act of copulation, and an animal that can survive its own act of procreation to live on with its descendants. The latter has a greater capacity for self-determination, since it can care for its own progeny and recognize itself in a generational chain, rather than being immediately subsumed by the reproduction of the species. Yet all these forms of life remain within the bounds of natural freedom, insofar as they cannot call into question the purpose of procreation and cannot transform the given ends of generational life.

The second trait of natural freedom is the ability of a living being to bear a negative self-relation. When faced with adversity, a living being does not passively submit to what happens but engages in some form of active resistance in accordance with its own self-determination. Even in disease or other forms of internal rupture, a living being is not simply negated but maintains itself in the negative experience of suffering. A stone, by contrast, cannot suffer from anything, since it has no self-relation and no ability to bear the negative within itself. The latter ability is a minimal condition for the natural freedom of self-determination. The ability to bear a negative self-relation makes it possible for a living being to strive to be itself, even when the striving entails great difficulty and pain. Moreover, the striving to be itself is intrinsic to any form of life. A living being always has to continue striving, not because it is incomplete or necessarily lacking anything but because it has to keep itself alive. There is no final goal or completion of life, since life can come to an end only in death. Even in its fullest actuality, a living being must continue to strive to be alive, since life is essentially a temporal activity. The relation to the negative cannot be eliminated, since a living being is subject to constant alteration and has to maintain itself as it changes across time. The relation to the negative is therefore internal to the living being itself and part of its positive constitution.

The third trait of natural freedom is the relation to a surplus of time. The striving self-maintenance of a living being necessarily generates more lifetime than is required to secure the means of survival, so there is at least a minimal amount of “free time” for every living being. The capacity to engage with free time is of course something that varies greatly among different species of natural life. Even a simple plant generates free time in itself, since it does not necessarily have to devote all its time to absorbing the light, water, and other forms of nourishment that are needed for its sustenance. If you remove a plant from any form of nourishment, it can still survive for a period of time, which is why the plant is a source of surplus. A plant, however, does not have the capacity to use its free time for itself, insofar as there is no activity that is distinct from the activity of self-preservation in the life of plants. In contrast, animals that can play games, explore new aspects of their environment, or be absorbed in purring, have a capacity for self-enjoyment that is distinct from self-preservation. Through this capacity, they are able not only to generate free time in themselves but also to enjoy their free time for themselves. In the free time of self-enjoyment, animals exceed the realm of necessity that is defined by self-preservation and open the realm of freedom. Yet even animals with highly refined capacities for self-enjoyment remain within the bounds of natural freedom, insofar as they cannot ask themselves how they should spend their time and thereby cannot relate to their time as free.

The seagull is once again an instructive example. Like all living beings, the seagull is acting in relation to its own death. Even the most elementary purposive behavior of a living organism (the purpose of maintaining the life of the organism and the species) only makes sense in relation to the prospect of death. Yet the purpose of maintaining the life of the organism and the species is not itself in question for the seagull. The seagull is always acting in light of that purpose and is therefore restricted to a form of natural freedom. For us, on the contrary, the purpose of our lives is itself in question. Even when we are completely devoted to what we do and who we take ourselves to be, our fundamental commitments can come into question. We can wake up in the middle of the night, asking ourselves what we are doing with our lives. What used to be utterly meaningful can lose its grip and what we do can cease to make sense to us. These forms of existential anxiety can be paralyzing (as in boredom or depression), but they can also transform, change, and reinvigorate our commitments. Existential anxiety is a sign of our spiritual freedom. It is because our fundamental commitments are not given that we can bind ourselves to an ideal rather than a natural purpose. Moreover, it is because our fundamental commitments are mutable and may fall apart that we can even engage the question of what to do with our lives.

Louise Glück’s Late Style

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What is Spiritual Freedom?

Most of us are very aware of what it looks like and feels like to be emotionally or physically oppressed in our humanity. Whether it’s spiritually, as in fear, stress, rejection, guilt, and bitterness; or physically, as in diseases, disorders, and infirmities. But what does true spiritual freedom look like? God provides truth in His Word that helps us overcome the enemy’s works and oppression in our lives and leads us into spiritual freedom as overcomers.

Spiritual freedom is an opportunity we’ve all been given

Christ Jesus came to offer an opportunity for us to be freed from oppression and from the curse of sin and death and to live in wholeness and spiritual freedom. He says this in His Word:

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:36 KJV

The word ‘Free’ in this scripture as defined from the original Greek text is this: unrestrained (to go at pleasure), i.e. (as a citizen), not a slave (whether freeborn or manumitted), or (genitive case) exempt (from obligation or liability):—free (person), at liberty.

This freedom sets us in a position of being accepted by God, as a ‘citizen’ of God’s spiritual kingdom. God takes this position a step further in His Word, and says that not only are we citizens but accepted sons and daughters of Go d!

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Romans 8:15 KJV

Submission to God is a key to spiritual freedom

As long as we serve sin or iniquity in any area of our life, in that area, we are in bondage to sin and death. However, when we choose to pursue God’s heart and His ways, we submit ourselves to His righteousness through obedience. This is a key to spiritual freedom.

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Romans 6:16 KJV

What Spiritual Freedom is not

When we hear the words “righteousness” or “obedience” we may be triggered into a pattern of drivenness and performance to do things “right” and “correct,” striving for perfection. This performance-based behavior is relying on ourselves and our own understanding, and does not operate by God’s leading and in submission to Him. It keeps us from being able to accept and receive Christ Jesus’ free gift from the cross. The enemy can be tricky because he can use even godly principles and turn them into a form of bondage and oppression again through religious spirits and fear.

God’s ways vs. our ways

Romans 8 is a powerful example of the difference between walking in righteousness according to God’s Spirit or bondage to the law through works. A person can do the “right thing” yet be motivated by the wrong spirit and still be separated from God.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:1-6 KJV

God provided a way to spiritual freedom through Christ Jesus

God knows, according to Romans 8:3, that as humans, we are weak in the flesh to fulfill the law. So rather than putting His foot down and rubbing our faces in our weakness, He provided a better way; a more excellent way .

In Luke, Christ Jesus defines His purpose for coming to the Earth by referring to a prophecy of Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Luke 4:18 KJV

Christ Jesus came to represent the truth to us and destroy the works of the enemy in our lives. He put the keys in our hands so that we could choose to walk away from the bondage and oppression of the enemy’s camp and back into our Father’s house where we can find peace and safety. He desires to lead us to the spirit of freedom, yet He still gives us the option to make a personal choice to follow Him. This is not a single event but a journey of growing in our relationship, trust, and submission to God once we’ve received Him as our Lord and Savior. At Be in Health, we call this our overcomers’ journey.

The Holy Spirit is essential for spiritual freedom

When He left this Earth to go up to Heaven and sit at the right hand of His Father, Jesus Christ said that He would not leave us comfortless . So Father God sent us His Holy Spirit. This was like Him giving us an open phone line straight up to the throne of grace to bridge the gap between our physical dimension and God’s spiritual reality. The Holy Spirit is our helper and our lifeline so we are never alone on our journey of walking into the spirit of freedom.

If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 14:15-18 KJV

The Holy Spirit is also the power of God living in us, giving us the authority in Jesus Christ’s name to destroy the works of the devil in our lives and in the earth.

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19 KJV

The enemy wants to sever our lifeline to spiritual freedom

The enemy desperately fears the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Therefore, he will do whatever he can to sever that lifeline to God and to pull us back into bondage. One tactic he uses is to keep us focused on our self and our personal, physical, or emotional issues. He will try to rob us of our hope and our joy and try to bring in accusation, fear, guilt, shame , bitterness , and whatever else he can. He will try to make anything and anyone other than himself seem like our enemy so that we will get caught up and be separated from God, others, and even ourselves.

The fruit of righteousness is a key to spiritual freedom

John 14:15 says that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. So righteousness works by the leading of the Holy Spirit, and is fulfilled by the fruit of love in our hearts. If our agreement with the enemy causes separatio n from God, ourselves, and/or others, love is the glue that brings us back to spirit of freedom and holds us in the Kingdom of God. In fact, the Word says that by love the whole law is fulfilled.

Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. 1 Timothy 1:5 KJV

The word ‘charity’ directly translated from the Greek is the English word ‘love.’ The phrase, ‘faith unfeigned’ means undisguised or sincere faith. We cannot always lean on our own understanding of what this freedom looks like or feels like. The love of God is not something that we can force or fabricate, but it is a work of the Holy Spirit that lines our heart up with the love of God and His Word. This verse encompasses the completeness of spirit of freedom in God our Father.

How do we get a pure heart?

God helps us purify our hearts through submission to Him. If He exposes a work of the enemy we can be diligent to repent for our agreement with it and remove it , and we also need to remain teachable and open to God’s leading and guidance.

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 KJV

What does God’s love look like?

Love is not a mere emotion. According to the Word of God, love is God’s very nature; it’s who He is. When we understand His nature, we will have a better point of reference to understand who He is in us and through us as a work of the Holy Spirit. God’s character and nature are clearly defined in Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 13 .

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 KJV Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth… 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 KJV

If the Word says that God is love, that’s what we should be too. 1 Corinthians 13 defines for us what that love really i s. This is the love that God already has for us that He wants us to believe and receive, and then He wants to form it in us so that we can represent Him to others. By abiding in His love, we will receive the wholeness of spiritual freedom in our lives.

Discernment is essential for true spiritual freedom

We need not let fear, guilt, sham e, and condemnation have power in our lives. We need to learn how to recognize them and know how to overcome them. We must also learn how to pick ourselves back up again if we fall because we know that God does not define us according to our failures but according to t he person that He created us to be from the foundation of the world.

Psalm 103 is a beautiful glimpse of how our Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, sees us and deals with us:

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. 9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we [are] dust. Psalm 103:8-14 KJV

Can we receive the fullness of forgiveness from Him?

Can we receive forgiveness from God, leave the past in the past, and move forward into our future in Him? Can we have that same sort of mercy for ourselves and for others that our Father has for us?

True spirit of freedom is not perfection. It’s being open and pliable to the Holy Spirit to shape us and form us more and more into the image of our Father, moment by moment. Spirit of freedom is not a feeling, emotion, or event. It’s a state of being. It’s not passive or something that happens once and we’re “good enough.” It’s a journey of actively pursuing our Father’s heart and overcoming those areas in our life that are not from Him, yet still being at peace with ourselves and loving ourselves where we are at in our current state.

Being spiritually free is our most normal state of being in life

Spirit of freedom is having a firm foundation of the truth from God’s Word established in our hearts so that we can stand our ground against the enemy and overcome him in our own life. Spiritual freedom is being who we were truly created to be , receiving God’s love and, in turn, loving God, loving ourselves, and loving others. True freedom is the joy of experiencing the unfeigned fruit of the Spirit as it flows from our heart that has been made pure by the washing of the water of the Word.

What is spiritual freedom? Spiritual freedom is a treasure!

Spiritual freedom is a treasure to be pursued. Yet it is not just a moment that happens overnight. We have to allow God to help us grow up into it; He can strengthen us and mature us in our spiritual growth. We need to develop strength and enduranc e in this race. We may run through different levels of spirit of freedom as we walk out of more and more of the enemy’s bondage.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Hebrew 12:1 KJV

Spiritual freedom is part of your personal story and journey through life.

So, dear brothers and sisters, will you choose at this moment to grab hold of your Heavenly Father’s hand in meekness and allow Him to lead you as His child so that you can grow up in Him? If spiritual freedom is your desire, will you pursue His heart and His righteousness with your whole heart?

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4 KJV

The Be in Health® Team

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Would you like to read more articles like this.

• What Does the Bible Say About Trusting in God? – by David Levitt Trusting God is essential to our overcomers’ journey because without his help, we are helpless in our journey to spiritual freedom. He needs to be our source and through Him we can overcome the enemy’s strongholds in our lives.
• What Does the Bible Say About Trials and Temptations? – by Pastor Adrienne Shales God didn’t say that life would be easy. However, He did say that He would help us through every trial and temptation that we encounter. Discover how you can walk in spiritual freedom even through hardships with God’s help.
• God’s Character in Us – Growing the Fruit of the Spirit Learning how to walk in spiritual freedom is a process of removing the old ways that the enemy has trained us in and growing up in God’s ways and into His image. Discover the image that He created us in before the foundation of the world. Who are you really?

Here are some resources on this topic

His Ways Versus Our Ways – a Teaching by Dr. Henry W. Wright

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What Is the Meaning of Spiritual Freedom? Self-Awareness

Spiritual freedom refers to a sense of inner liberation and self-awareness, which allows individuals to live their lives aligned with their true purpose, values, and beliefs.

It involves transcending societal conditioning, releasing attachments and limiting beliefs, and fostering a deep connection with one’s inner self and the universe.

Spiritual freedom is the state of being able to find inner peace, happiness, and contentment, independent of external circumstances.

It is achieved when an individual has developed a strong connection with their true self, cultivated mindfulness and awareness, and learned to trust their intuition.

Through this process, individuals can overcome fears, unhealthy patterns, and ego-driven desires, and ultimately attain true fulfillment in life.

Spiritual freedom empowers individuals to live authentic and purposeful lives, as they gain the ability to make decisions in alignment with their true selves.

This inner liberation allows for increased self-acceptance, mental clarity, and emotional resilience, fostering a deep sense of inner peace and contentment in life.

Ultimately, spiritual freedom paves the way for personal growth, self-realization, and the manifestation of one’s highest potential.

10 Terms: Meaning of Spiritual Freedom

Table of Contents

Key Takeaway

Five Facts About Spiritual Freedom

What is “spiritual freedom”, defining the concept of spiritual freedom.

Spiritual freedom is a state of inner peace and liberation that goes beyond individuals’ physical and mental limitations. It is a level where individuals experience oneness with the universe and a deeper meaning of life.

It involves the ability to connect with something larger than oneself and recognize the interconnectedness of all things.

Below are some key points to define the concept of spiritual freedom:

• Spiritual freedom is not tied to any particular religion or tradition but is a universal concept.
• It is a state of mind and consciousness that can be attained through various spiritual practices such as meditation, prayer, or mindfulness.
• Spiritual freedom is about liberation from negative emotions, attachments, and desires that hold us back from living a fulfilling life.
• Once individuals achieve spiritual freedom, they no longer feel bound by others’ opinions or societal expectations.

Its Importance And Significance In Our Lives

Spiritual freedom is vital in our lives. It helps us detach from the material world and embrace our true selves.

Here are some reasons why spiritual freedom is significant:

• Spiritual freedom enhances personal growth and development, leading to a more balanced and harmonious life.
• It helps individuals cope with life’s challenges and stress by providing a sense of inner peace and calmness.
• When individuals reach a state of spiritual freedom, their relationships with others improve as they can practice empathy and understanding.
• It allows individuals to embrace infinite possibilities, sparking creativity and innovation.

Spiritual freedom is a universal and transformative concept that can bring profound transformations to individuals’ lives.

It is about transcending the mundane and embracing the spiritual realm, leading to a more fulfilling life.

Achieving spiritual freedom requires dedication, patience, and mindfulness, but the benefits are significant, making it a worthwhile endeavor.

The Key Elements Of Spiritual Freedom

The role of spirituality in finding inner freedom.

Spirituality refers to the quest for deeper meaning and purpose, which goes beyond the physical and material aspects of our lives. It is an integral part of human experience that helps us find inner peace and harmony.

Here are some of the key elements of spirituality that can help us achieve spiritual freedom:

• Mindfulness meditation – it helps us to understand and be present in the moment, fostering inner peace and calmness.
• Gratitude practice – focusing on what we’re thankful for helps to cultivate a positive mindset and to appreciate life even more.
• Contemplative prayer – can be a way to connect with a higher power, which can offer feelings of love and support.
• Developing a connection with nature – spending time outside, in greenery, forests, parks, or by the beach can provide a sense of transference and stillness.

Embracing A Sense Of Purpose And Meaning In Life

Having a sense of purpose or meaning is crucial in finding overall fulfilment in life and spiritual freedom. It drives and motivates us towards meaningful accomplishments and helps us find that inner satisfaction.

Here are some elements of living a purposeful life:

• Knowing our values – identifying what is meaningful and important to us. Living in harmony with our values will make us feel more content and at peace.
• Setting goals – setting achievable goals, gives us a sense of direction and a way to measure our progress and successes.
• Understanding our passions – incorporating our passions into our daily life and work is fundamental to our overall wellbeing.
• Having a clear life aim – having a clear, defined aim is crucial for creating a roadmap for our future.

Developing A Sense Of Connection With The World Around Us

The world around us offers us meaningful practices to feel a connection and experience spiritual freedom.

• Practicing self-awareness – this involves being in tune with our emotions and aware of our paradigm shift. Mindfulness is a way to deeply connect with the self.
• Developing compassion for others – putting ourselves in a place of understanding and knowledge of other’s plight allows for a deep connection.
• Meaningful relationships – fostering deep, meaningful relationships with individuals, animals, or groups aids in forming a sense of belonging.
• Engaging in a community – by being an active participant in the community supports a sense of connection and a place to contribute meaningfully.

Overall, these elements constitute what it means to experience spiritual freedom.

By developing a deeper relationship with our spiritual self, understanding our purpose and meaning, and fostering a connection to the world around us, we can all achieve a more meaningful and fulfilled life.

Meditation: Unlocking The Power Of The Mind

Spiritual freedom is the feeling of being liberated from any restrictions weighing us down. It is the capacity to cherish one’s existence while also pursuing one’s purpose without fear or hindrances.

This concept has different meanings to various people, but it all comes down to the same concept; having control over one’s thoughts and emotions.

Spiritual freedom can be obtained through different methods, but meditation is a particularly effective technique for unlocking the power of the mind.

The Benefits Of Meditation On Our Spiritual Path

Meditation is a subtle practice that uses concentration to calm and still the mind, making it a fantastic tool for achieving spiritual freedom.

Here are a few benefits that meditation has on our spiritual growth:

• Mindful awareness: With each meditation session, you become more mindful of your surroundings, allowing you to connect more deeply with your inner self.
• Gaining clarity and positivity: Meditation teaches acceptance and self-love, which helps in achieving clarity and positivity in thoughts.
• Enhances focus: Meditation helps to enhance focus and concentration by setting achievable objectives and encouraging you to focus on each one.
• Liberates the mind: Regular practice of meditation can train the mind to be calm and free from distractions. It aids in the liberation of the mind from any negative patterns, including self-doubt and fear.

Different Types Of Meditation Techniques To Try

There are various types of meditation techniques, and everyone can find one that suits their individuality.

Here are a few types of meditation techniques to try:

• Mindfulness meditation: Focuses on breathing and observation of the present moment.
• Loving-kindness meditation: Cultivates love, kindness, and self-compassion.
• Body scan meditation: Awareness of the body parts and scanning them for any sensations.
• Visualization meditation: Aims to create vivid imagery in mind through imagination and mental visualization.
• Zen meditation: A traditional practice using sitting and walking postures and repetitive counting meditation techniques.

Meditation can be a powerful tool in our spiritual path towards liberation and freedom, whether it is for emotional healing or personal development.

It helps us declutter our minds and become mindful of our surroundings, bringing us closer to achieving spiritual freedom.

Mindful Living: Incorporating Spirituality Into Daily Life

Spiritual freedom is all about breaking free from the constraints of the mind and nourishing the soul with positivity and inner peace. It involves incorporating mindfulness and spirituality into our daily lives.

This means being fully present in the moment, accepting and letting go of negative emotions, and cultivating gratitude and compassion.

Living In The Present Moment

Living in the present moment is all about focusing on the now and being aware of our surroundings. This helps us to appreciate every moment and be grateful for what we have.

Here are some ways to incorporate this into your daily life:

• Practice mindfulness meditation to improve your awareness of the present moment.
• Take a few deep breaths whenever you feel yourself getting lost in thoughts of the past or future.
• Engage in activities that require your full attention, such as painting, hiking or gardening.
• Make time for yourself in your daily routine to reflect on how you’re feeling and what you’re grateful for.

Accepting And Letting Go Of Negative Emotions

One of the biggest obstacles to spiritual freedom is our attachment to negative emotions such as fear, anger, and jealousy. Accepting and letting go of these emotions is the key to finding inner peace.

Here are some ways to do so:

• Practice self-compassion by acknowledging your emotions without judgment.
• Try to understand the root cause of your negative emotions and work to heal those wounds.
• Let go of negative thoughts by focusing on positive affirmations and mantras.
• Practice forgiveness, both towards yourself and others.

Cultivating Gratitude And Compassion

Cultivating gratitude and compassion is essential to living a spiritually fulfilling life. It helps us to connect with ourselves and others on a deeper level.

• Keep a gratitude journal where you write down 3 things you’re grateful for each day.
• Practice random acts of kindness towards others.
• Learn to see the good in every situation by reframing negative thoughts.
• Practice loving-kindness meditation to cultivate feelings of compassion towards yourself and others.

Incorporating spirituality into your daily life is about living in the present, accepting and letting go of negative emotions, and cultivating feelings of gratitude and compassion. By doing so, we can find spiritual freedom and live a more fulfilling life.

Practices Of Faith: Finding Spiritual Freedom Through Religion

The role of religion in providing guidance and support.

Religion plays a vital role in offering guidance and support to people who seek spiritual freedom.

Here are some ways through which religion provides support:

• Guidance from religious leaders: Religious leaders, such as priests, rabbis, and imams have extensive knowledge of spiritual practices, and they are instrumental in guiding people through their spiritual journeys.
• Community support: Religious communities offer a support system to their members. They organize religious activities, such as prayer sessions, and provide an opportunity for people to come together and gain strength from each other.
• The scriptures: Religious texts, such as the bible, the quran, and the torah, offer wisdom and guidance for those seeking spiritual freedom and liberation.

Different Religions Offering Diverse Paths To Spiritual Freedom

Religions offer various paths to spiritual freedom and liberation, depending on their beliefs, practices, and traditions.

Here are some different paths to spiritual freedom offered by various religions:

• Christianity: Christians believe that accepting jesus christ as their savior will lead to spiritual salvation. They practice prayer, worship, and studying the bible as a path to spiritual freedom.
• Buddhism: Buddhists believe that through mindfulness and meditation, one can achieve spiritual enlightenment and liberation from suffering.
• Hinduism: Hindus follow a path to spiritual liberation through devotion, yoga, and knowledge-seeking.
• Islam: Muslims follow the path of submission to allah as the way to achieve spiritual liberation. They follow practices such as daily prayer, fasting, and giving to charity.

Religion can play an essential role in helping people find spiritual freedom. By offering guidance and support and offering diverse paths to spiritual liberation, religions provide a framework to explore and find one’s spiritual truths.

The Challenges Of The Material World

Spiritual freedom refers to a sense of liberty and release from the earthly burdens that hold us back from spiritual growth.

While it may be elusive to many, striving for spiritual freedom is an essential part of personal spiritual development.

In the journey towards spiritual freedom, the challenges presented by the material world can be overwhelming.

Overcoming attachment and excessive desire

In the material world, we often become attached to material objects and people. This attachment is an obstacle to spiritual freedom.

To overcome attachment and excessive desire, consider these points:

• Recognize that everything in the material world is temporary and will eventually fade away; nothing lasts forever
• Detach yourself from specific outcomes and expectations, instead of focusing on the present moment and accepting things for what they are
• Practice gratitude for what you already have
• Resist comparing yourself to others, since the desire for more comes from that internal state of comparing oneself to others and not from one’s genuine wants

Living A Simple And Content Life

The material world promotes the notion that the more we have, the happier we will be. However, excessive material possessions can negatively impact our emotional and mental wellbeing.

Living a simple and content life is one way to overcome these barriers to spiritual freedom.

To achieve this, consider:

• Living purposefully and mindfully to focus on what’s truly essential in life
• Eliminating material possessions that do not bring genuine value
• Avoiding the consumption of goods that distract from our personal journey towards spiritual growth
• Surrounding oneself with like-minded individuals who share the same values of simplicity and contentment

Spiritual freedom is a lifelong process- each step of the journey is an opportunity to overcome challenges that test our faith, values, and commitment.

By avoiding attachment, living intentionally, and simplifying our lives, we can gain insight and spiritual freedom.

The Challenge Of Negative Emotions

The challenge of negative emotions: overcoming fear, anger, and sorrow.

Spiritual freedom means letting go of negative emotions and the pain they cause.

Negative emotions such as fear, anger, and sorrow can affect our physical health and spiritual well-being. It is important to overcome these negative emotions to attain a state of spiritual freedom.

Overcoming Fear

Fear is a natural emotion that can either protect us from danger or hold us back. However, when fear is irrational or excessive, it can become a major obstacle to our spiritual growth.

Here are ways to overcome fear:

• Understand the root of the fear and face it head-on
• Release the fear through meditation and self-reflection
• Embrace positive affirmations to replace negative thoughts
• Seek support and guidance from spiritual mentors or therapists.

Overcoming Anger

Anger can have destructive consequences and can interfere with our spiritual journey.

Here are ways to overcome anger:

• Identify what triggers the anger and resolve any underlying issues
• Practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or mindfulness
• Replace negative thoughts with positive ones
• Seek counseling or mental health support as needed.

Overcoming Sorrow

Sorrow can drain our energy and interfere with our ability to find inner peace.

Here are ways to overcome sorrow:

• Allow yourself time to mourn and process the grief
• Practice self-care and self-compassion
• Focus on positive memories and gratitude
• Seek spiritual support and guidance from trusted mentors or leaders.

Cultivating Positive Emotions And Mindsets

Cultivating positive emotions and mindsets can help us attain spiritual freedom.

Here are some ways to cultivate positive emotions and mindsets:

• Practice gratitude and focus on what is going well in life
• Embrace forgiveness and let go of grudges and resentments
• Surround yourself with positive people and environments
• Engage in activities that bring you joy and nourish your soul.

Spiritual freedom means letting go of negative emotions and cultivating positive ones. By overcoming fear, anger, and sorrow, we can attain the peace and freedom that is essential for our spiritual well-being.

Start cultivating positive emotions and mindsets today to experience the true sense of spiritual freedom in your life.

The Challenge Of Finding Purpose And Meaning In Life

Finding our unique purpose and mission in life.

We all yearn for something more significant than what our day-to-day lives offer. We continually strive to unlock our potential and find our unique purpose in life.

The journey towards finding our purpose is lifelong but crucial to experience spiritual freedom.

Here are some ways we can discover our unique mission in life:

• Self-reflection: Begin by asking yourself, “what are my strengths and weaknesses? What do i love doing? What comes naturally to me?” spend time in quiet contemplation to reflect on your passions, beliefs, and values. Journaling can also be helpful to record your thoughts and insights.
• Experimentation: Trying out different things can also help you identify your unique purpose. Take on new hobbies and endeavors, even if they stretch you outside your comfort zone. This may help you uncover your passions and strengths that were previously unknown to you.
• Seeking guidance: Speak to family and friends who know you well. They might provide a fresh perspective or suggest areas where you excel. You can also seek out mentors who have experience in your field of interest. They can offer guidance and wisdom as you navigate your journey towards discovering your purpose.

Overcoming Feelings Of Dichotomy And Disconnection

Sometimes, we may feel a sense of disconnection from ourselves and the world. We experience a split between our inner and outer selves, leading to feelings of dichotomy.

To experience spiritual freedom, we must overcome these feelings of disconnection and find inner wholeness.

Here are some ways to approach this challenge:

• Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness is the practice of being present and non-judgmental of our thoughts and feelings. Practicing mindfulness helps us become more aware of our thoughts and emotions and helps us to process them in a healthier way.
• Connect with nature: Spending time in nature can help us reconnect with our inner selves and the world. Being surrounded by the beauty of nature can have a calming effect and bring a sense of inner peace.
• Seek community: Building a community of like-minded individuals who share similar values and beliefs can help us feel more connected. Being part of a community can provide a sense of belonging, which can help us feel more centered and whole.

Discovering our unique purpose and overcoming feelings of disconnection are crucial steps towards experiencing spiritual freedom.

By practicing mindfulness, connecting with nature, seeking guidance, and building community, we can unlock our potential and awaken our souls to a deeper sense of purpose.

The Benefits Of Spiritual Freedom

Spiritual freedom is a deeper and more profound concept than physical or political freedom. It is a state of being in which one feels liberated, content, and fulfilled.

Spiritual freedom allows an individual to transcend their ego and connect with their inner self, which is essential for experiencing a sense of purpose and meaning in life.

Finding Peace, Contentment, And Fulfillment In Life

When one achieves spiritual liberation, they are freed from the constraints of their materialistic desires and cravings.

This allows individuals to find peace, contentment, and fulfillment irrespective of their external circumstances.

Here are some of the key benefits of finding spiritual freedom:

• Inner peace : Spiritual freedom aligns individuals with their inner selves, allowing them to experience inner peace that cannot be shaken by external factors.
• Improved mental health: As individuals learn to detach themselves from their materialistic desires, their mental health improves. They are less prone to depression, anxiety, and addiction, among other mental illnesses.
• A sense of purpose and meaning: Spiritual freedom allows individuals to connect with their true selves and find their unique path in life. This enhances their sense of purpose and meaning in life.
• Increased empathy and kindness: People who achieve spiritual liberation tend to be kinder and more empathetic towards others. They can connect with others on a deeper level and extend their compassion and understanding.

Building Stronger Relationships With Others

Spiritual freedom not only affects individuals’ inner lives but also their relationships with others. It helps them connect with others on a deeper level and establish more meaningful relationships.

Here are some of the ways individuals who find spiritual liberation can build stronger relationships with the people around them:

• Lack of judgment: People who achieve spiritual freedom tend to be more accepting and less judgmental towards others. This allows them to connect with people from different walks of life and build stronger, more diverse relationships.
• Better communication: Spiritually liberated individuals are better at communicating their thoughts and emotions to others. This helps them build stronger, more honest relationships in which they can communicate and connect on a deeper level.
• Improved trust: As people learn to let go of their egos and connect with their inner selves, they build stronger, more authentic relationships based on trust and mutual respect.
• Heightened compassion and empathy: People who achieve spiritual freedom are more compassionate and empathetic towards others. They can help others, listen to them, and understand their perspectives, building stronger bonds in the process.

Spiritual freedom is the ultimate form of liberation, allowing individuals to connect with their inner selves and experience a sense of purpose, meaning, and fulfillment in life.

It can help individuals find peace and contentment and establish deeper, more meaningful relationships.

Achieving spiritual freedom is not easy, but it can be a life-changing experience that transforms individuals in profound ways.

How Does Divine Guidance Tie into the Concept of Spiritual Freedom and Self-Awareness?

Divine guidance is essential to understanding the meaning of spiritual courage . By seeking spiritual guidance, individuals can gain insight into their own strengths and limitations, allowing them to cultivate self-awareness and ultimately achieve spiritual freedom. With the guidance of a higher power, individuals can find the courage to live authentically and fearlessly.

FAQ For What Is The Meaning Of Spiritual Freedom

What is spiritual freedom.

Spiritual freedom is the liberation of the inner self from the limitations of external factors and achieving a sense of peace and contentment.

Why Is Spiritual Freedom Important?

Spiritual freedom facilitates the true purpose of life by encouraging a sense of clarity, compassion, and contentment. It also facilitates inner peace and reduces stress.

How Can I Achieve Spiritual Freedom?

Spiritual freedom can be achieved by practicing meditation, self-reflection, being mindful of your thoughts and actions, and cultivating a positive attitude.

Can Everyone Achieve Spiritual Freedom?

Yes, anyone can achieve spiritual freedom with dedication and practice. One does not need to be religious or spiritual to experience spiritual freedom.

Spiritual freedom is an essential aspect of human existence that allows individuals to pursue their beliefs without fear of judgment or oppression.

It is a process that involves self-discovery, understanding, and acceptance of our unique purpose on this earth.

Spiritual freedom can be attained through various means, including meditation, prayer, and self-reflection.

It enables us to connect with our inner selves and with the universe, providing a sense of peace, contentment, and fulfillment.

Ultimately, spiritual freedom allows us to develop an unshakeable faith in something greater than ourselves: a guiding force that supports us even in our darkest moments.

As we navigate life’s inevitable challenges and uncertainties, it is crucial to cultivate spiritual freedom, to remain grounded, and to trust the journey.

Remember, spiritual freedom is a lifelong process that requires continual effort and commitment, but the rewards are immeasurable.

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The following is an excerpt from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on John 8:32.

“and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” (8:32)

The inevitable blessing of believing in Jesus and continuing to obey His Word is to know the truth. “Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (1:17), He is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6), and “truth is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21). In a postmodern world, where the hope of discovering absolute truth has been largely abandoned, such knowledge is revolutionary. Like Pilate, who asked the cynical question, “What is truth?” (18:38), modern skeptics are left with nothing but their own ignorance and despair—the fruit of their futile search for truth apart from God.

The truth comes not only from knowing the revelation of Scripture concerning Christ, but also from being taught by the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of truth” (14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 5:6). The apostle John referred to the Spirit’s teaching of believers in 1 John 2:27 when he wrote, “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

Scripture is the revelation of divine truth. In it Jesus Christ, truth incarnate, is revealed, and through it the Holy Spirit teaches the truth to believers. Thus Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17; cf. Ps. 119:142, 151, 160). The all-sufficient Scripture is “inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). And not just “the man of God,” the preacher, but all who are taught by him.

The reality of believing in Jesus, obeying His Word, and knowing the truth brings spiritual freedom. Such freedom is multifaceted, and includes freedom from the bondage of falsehood, Satan (John 17:15; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 5:18), condemnation (Rom. 8:1), judgment (John 3:18; 5:24), spiritual ignorance (8:12), spiritual death (8:51), and, most significantly in this context (v. 34), sin (Rom. 6:18, 22).

It was to liberate lost sinners that Jesus came into the world (Luke 19:10). In the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth, the Lord applied the following words from Isaiah to His ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18). Those who are set free in Christ must heed Paul’s admonition to the Galatians: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1).

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St. Thomas Aquinas’s Concept of Freedom

Freedom is a fundamental concept in Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy. Aquinas’s view of freedom is deeply rooted in his understanding of human nature, the role of reason, and the relationship between the human person and God. In this essay, we will explore Aquinas’s concept of freedom in detail.

The Nature of Freedom

For Aquinas, freedom is not simply the ability to choose between different options. Rather, freedom is the capacity to choose what is good and to act on that choice. Freedom is the ability to act in accordance with one’s rational nature, which is oriented towards the good. This means that true freedom is not the absence of restraint, but rather the ability to choose the right course of action in the face of obstacles and limitations.

According to Aquinas, true freedom is only possible when we act in accordance with our nature. This means that true freedom is not the ability to do whatever we want, but rather the ability to act in accordance with our true nature as rational creatures. Our nature as rational creatures is oriented towards the good, and true freedom is only possible when we choose the good in accordance with our nature.

The Role of Reason

Reason plays a crucial role in Aquinas’s understanding of freedom. Reason enables us to discern what is good and to choose it freely. Aquinas sees reason as the key to our freedom, because it allows us to recognize the good and to choose it in a way that is consistent with our nature as rational creatures.

Aquinas also recognizes that reason can be clouded by passions and emotions. When our passions and emotions are not in harmony with our reason, we are unable to choose the good freely. Instead, we are compelled by our passions to act in ways that are contrary to reason. Aquinas sees this as a form of bondage, because we are unable to act freely in accordance with our nature.

The Relationship between Freedom and Law

Aquinas also recognizes the role of law in our freedom. According to Aquinas, law is necessary for our freedom, because it provides a framework within which we can act freely. Law provides us with guidance and direction, and helps us to discern what is good and what is not.

However, Aquinas also recognizes that law can be a constraint on our freedom. When laws are unjust or unreasonable, they can prevent us from acting freely in accordance with our nature. In such cases, Aquinas argues that we have a duty to resist such laws in order to preserve our freedom.

The Relationship between Freedom and Grace

Finally, Aquinas recognizes the role of grace in our freedom. Grace is the gift of God’s love and mercy that enables us to act freely in accordance with our nature. According to Aquinas, grace enables us to overcome the limitations of our fallen nature and to act in accordance with the divine will.

Grace does not destroy our freedom, but rather perfects it. Grace enables us to act in accordance with our nature as rational creatures, and to choose the good freely. Grace also enables us to recognize the true good and to choose it in a way that is consistent with our nature.

In conclusion, Aquinas’s concept of freedom is deeply rooted in his understanding of human nature, reason, law, and grace. For Aquinas, true freedom is the ability to act in accordance with our nature as rational creatures, and to choose the good freely. Reason plays a crucial role in our freedom, because it enables us to discern the good and to choose it freely. Law is also necessary for our freedom, because it provides us with guidance and direction. Finally, grace is the gift of God’s love and mercy that enables us to act freely in accordance with our nature, and to choose the good in a way that is consistent with our nature.

Spiritual Formation: What it is, and How it is Done

A few scripture passages point us to the place in human personality that is the focus of spiritual formation:

Proverbs 4:20-24 reminds us to keep the words of God's wisdom "in the midst of your heart," and that from there "they are life to those who find them, and health to all their body." (vv. 21-22 NASB) Then comes the exhortation, "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life." (v. 23)

In Mark 7:15, 20-23, Jesus teaches about the true source of evil in human life: "The things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.... For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness."

In Luke 6, he points out that "there is no good tree which produces bad fruit.... Men do not gather figs from thornbushes...." (vv. 43-44) It is the inner nature of the tree that determines its outward product. Likewise, "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart." (v. 45)

Spiritual formation in the tradition of Jesus Christ is the process of transformation of the inmost dimension of the human being, the heart, which is the same as the spirit or will. It is being formed (really, transformed) in such a way that its natural expression comes to be the deeds of Christ done in the power of Christ.

The progression of spiritual formation is outlined in various passages of the New Testament. It is most fully spelled out in II Peter 1: "Now since you have become partakers of the divine nature,” the writer says, "applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love." (vv. 4-7)

These New Testament progressions always conclude with agape . Agape is the center, the linchpin, of it all. Colossians 3 has a wonderful progression that concludes, "And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity." (v. 14) Romans 5 concludes its progression with the words, "because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (v. 5)

If you examine these and related passages you will see that they include a passive element and an active element. And making the distinction between passive and active, and seeing how they come together, poses--especially for the evangelical understanding--the greatest difficulty in the area of spiritual formation.

We know, as Jesus says, "Without me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) And I think everyone here will agree with that. It is the initiative of God and the presence of God without which all of our efforts are in vain--whether it is in justification or sanctification or in the realm of the exercise of power, all our efforts will be in vain if God does not act. But we had better believe that the back side of that verse reads: "If you do nothing it will be without me." And this is the part we have the hardest time hearing.

So I have read the above passages to you. "Keep your heart." Well, that's something for me to do. I have the keeping of my heart. I am responsible for it. Do I do it alone? No. If I do it alone, I'll just make bad matters worse. But I have to do it nonetheless. I am the one who has to "give all diligence to add to my faith moral excellence and add to my moral excellence knowledge"--I'm the one. Again: Do I do it alone? No. But if I do nothing, it will not be done.

We have a problem today in Evangelical circles. We're not only saved by grace, we're paralyzed by it. I'm Southern Baptist, and we often preach to you for an hour, telling you you can do nothing to be saved, and then sing to you for forty-five minutes trying to get you to do something to be saved. That's confusing! And, as we look at these verses (many similar ones could be chosen), I hope we can see within them the union of passivity and activity because spiritual formation is something that requires us to take wise steps in accomplishing it. The "old man" will not be put off, and the "new man" put on, unless I do something--and, indeed, unless I do the right things. And so the need as we approach the topic of spiritual formation, is to understand as well as we can what is our part and what is God's part, and take care of our part that God may be able to work with us in bringing us to be the kinds of people that we need to be and he wants us to be. (If the idea that we must do something to "enable" God to do something bothers you, you have just hit a major barrier on the pathway of spiritual formation.)

Now, spiritual formation talk has emerged within evangelical circles because of a pervasive felt need--felt on the part of many people within the laity as well as within the clergy--for "something more" than the group and individual activities that have been recognized and encouraged in conservative religious circles in recent decades. Especially, as Fundamentalism fell away and our contemporary (post-WW II) version of Evangelicalism emerged, we had a period of great success, and still enjoy that in many, many quarters; but because of the particular dynamics of that period, we came to think that, in the language of some Protestants, "the Word of God is the only sacrament." And what that meant practically was that the sole means of spiritual growth was being taught and "preached at"--that we're saved and transformed by hearing the truths of the scriptures; we're redeemed by the truths which the conservative and evangelical segments of the church rightly stood for. We're saved by believing them, we're sanctified by believing them, and all issues of spiritual growth are dealt with simply by taking the word in through reading it, through hearing it, through exhortation and ministry from the scriptures. Or so we thought. But I think that what we found, beginning some years ago, was that this "method" really does not do everything that is needed or that we thought it would do. And during the period since WW II, especially, we came to accept the marginalization of discipleship to Jesus. We came to see it as something of an option that we might choose to exercise should we wish. But if we would just like to believe the truth and receive the ministry of the word, and get on with our life without discipleship, that's okay too. And as a result we have now come to the place where we can be a Christian forever without becoming a disciple.

So discipleship was marginalized to something that was a special function. In my circles it always had to do with soul-winning. In the more liberal wing of the church (you know, Sojourners and The Other Side , if you are acquainted with those magazines and the segments of the church they appeal to), discipleship came to mean some type of "social action." Discipleship in the sense spelled out clearly, through word and deed, in the New Testament was moved out of the center of the Christian life. The subsequent rise of talk about spiritual formation occurred because of the felt (though often unarticulated) need to find something deeper: something that actually lead to the transformation of life, that actually moved people in the direction of "the good tree", that looked into the tangled depths of the heart and said, "There must be a way of doing something about that ."

In the path of serious spiritual formation there is indeed (as there always has been) a real possibility of meeting this need for transformation. There is a real possibility of looking at I Corinthians 13, for example, and being able to see that the love that is portrayed there can actually come to occupy the human heart. People can really be like that--"Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." People can be like that, not because they do such things, but because agape love has occupied them effectively as a result of their having learned how to receive it into the deepest part of their being.

Now I think we are at a crucial point in time, and that the very great promise which currently steps forward in the "buzz" about spiritual formation has three possible outcomes, two of them disappointing ones.

One is that spiritual formation will be lost in the sea of humanistic or "new age" spirituality--in what I am tempted sometimes to call the "Oprahcization" of Western culture. I think that Oprah means well, and there is much good in what she does--certainly much more than with many others in her type of public position. But she is severely misguided on some fundamental points. She now has on her television program a segment called "attending to your spirit," and we should pay attention to what shows up in that segment, asking ourselves how we could deal with the real needs she addresses. The hunger of the human heart that is unfed by what is authentic will go for what is inauthentic. If human beings need something vital badly enough, they may even destroy themselves trying to get it.

I was raised in southern Missouri where the land is mineral poor. Cows and sheep there will find piles of junk or refuse out in the fields or woods and eat old dry-cell batteries and rusty wire and nails to get the minerals that they need, and they die of it. The hunger for spiritual depth that we see manifested across our culture becomes a threat to a meaningful and practically effective understanding of spiritual formation as it should be presented by followers of Christ. And this threat has several forms.

Most are familiar with the Vedic or New Age form, but now secularism itself has a 'spirituality'. Even a mere "culture" has a spirituality to it now. There is a book titled Spirituality and the Secular Quest , edited by Peter Van Ness, in the very well known "World Spirituality" series. And what you have there is simply the claim that secular people have a 'spirituality' too. Spirituality is taken to be simply one dimension of the human being. That's the great divide, because, from the scriptural teachings and the teachings of our traditions in the Christian communities, we know that that is supposed to be right--human beings are, as such, supposed to have a spirituality. And in a sense they do. They remain spiritual beings, with all that implies. But on their own they're dead spiritually. They're cut off from the source of spiritual life. Yet what we are seeing and what we will continue to see is an attempt to take the merely human, dead in trespasses and sins, and make that into 'spirituality', framing it culturally, artistically, and in other ways. Usually 'spirituality' as a purely human dimension has to do with commitment, creativity and meaning.

And so we have not only the Old Age, viz. the Vedic, which is now called the New Age, but we also have secularism as a direction in which the drive to "spirituality" may develop. We could almost speak of "culturalism," because culture is now generally assigned to the area of the spiritual. And I think that in many of our Christian congregations there already exists in the minds of many people a hopeless mish-mash of these two tendencies, the Vedic and the secular. It has already almost totally captured some mainline churches--and some not so mainline, as you find when you begin to talk with people about what they actually think about spirituality and spiritual formation.

Now all of the spiritualities address, of course, the deep human needs of identity , righteousness and power . They must do so to have any appeal, and recent failure to show how the Christian way deals with those needs is largely responsible for their widespread appeal today.

Who am I? And the culturalisms etc. that pose as vital spirituality, as well as other forms of group identity, step up and say: This is who you are. But in these responses you don't get the sense that what we are meant to be is children of the heavenly Father, with a life that transcends everything that can be found in human culture or actual human nature.

Am I okay? Am I a good person? You will see that all the spiritualities address that issue. Am I strong? And you will see again, the longing for power ("empowerment" is the usual term now) is what is back of all these forms of spirituality, what gives them their appeal.

Well, that's one thing I think we are in danger of seeing happen with the current interest in spirituality and spiritual formation: It may be taken over by these kinds of Vedic or secularist tendencies.

Another possibility is perhaps more dangerous for those of us here today. It is that spiritual formation will simply become a new label for old activities--for what we are already doing: worship, hearing the word, community, quiet time, plus a new twist or two such as spiritual direction and so on. Now all of these things are very important. But if spiritual formation merely becomes a new label for things we are already doing, it will leave us right where we are. And the issues of deep inner transformation will remain untouched. And I say with trepidation that there is a real danger of spirituality becoming a field of mere "expertise," of academic competence, focused upon "religious activities."

I myself am sometimes introduced as an expert in the field of spirituality. I want to fade into the wall at that point. Spirituality and spiritual formation isn't that kind of thing. And I think that one of the greatest dangers for the cause of Christ today is that we Evangelicals will not understand our need for genuine repentance: repentance, not about what we aren't, but about what we are. Our problem is not caused merely by the fact that we don't do certain things, like love our neighbor as ourselves and so on. It's the very things that we teach and practice about the spiritual life that leave us in the position of not doing the things we should.

Haven't we been told that judgment begins at the house of God? That means, first of all, it begins where I am. I am a man of unclean lips who lives in the midst of a people of unclean lips. I have to own this. We have to own it. And sometimes the uncleanness of our lips simply comes from the fact that we use the language of our culture, and sometimes our religious culture, which may in fact be full of unperceived godlessness. We need to recognize that fact. What are we as Evangelicals, as religious Conservatives, or as Christians generally doing to bring about the kind of deepening called for by the turn to "spirituality" in our times? And is it really true that we just need to do what we are already doing, but more or better? Or do we need to do something different?….We need to do something different.

Now the third possibility is that "spiritual formation" could become a term for those processes through which people are inwardly transformed in such a way that the personality and deeds of Jesus Christ naturally flow out from them when and wherever they are. In other words, it can be understood as the process by which true Christlikeness is established in the very depths of our being. Thus multitudes of men and women could be brought forth from generation to generation to be, unapologetically, Christ's redemptive community: the true "city set on a hill," of which Jesus spoke, established in the midst of the earth now, as it shall be for eternity in the midst of the cosmos. (Eph. 3:10; Rev. 22:5) We could become a true "society of Jesus." We could be the life-transforming salt and light in a darkened world which God has always intended his covenant people to be.

Spiritual formation could and should be the process by which those who are Jesus' apprentices or disciples come easily to "do all things whatsoever I have commanded you." What I call "the great omission from the great commission" is the fact that Christians generally don't have a plan for teaching people do everything that he commanded. We don't as a rule even have a plan for learning this ourselves, and perhaps assume it is simply impossible. And that explains the yawning abyss today between being Christian and being a disciple. We have a form of religion that has accepted non-obedience to Christ, and the hunger for spirituality and spiritual formation in our day is a direct consequence of that.

Sometimes Christian trinkets can be very instructive. There is a map that is sold in Christian bookstores. One of these hangs in the foyer of a large church in the San Fernando Valley. It's one of those old-fashioned maps that has monsters drawn around the edges and everything is out of proportion to what we now know to be true of world geography. Under the drawing of the continents it has the words, "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations." This is a Charismatic church, so it continues, "baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." And then what comes next? An ellipsis, "...."! Then, "And lo, I am with you always."

You have to ask yourself what kind of a thought context that Christian trinket came out of. The people in that church--and it is a good church--walk by this map every week. No one has ever noticed the problem.

When we talk about spiritual formation we are talking about framing a progression of life in which people come to actually do all things that Jesus taught. So we are obviously going for the heart. We are aiming for change of the inner person, where what we do originates. I have already indicated my view that, biblically and systematically, it is appropriate to identify the heart and the spirit of the human being and the will as roughly the same thing. The spirit is that part of the human being that has the capacity of moving without being moved. It is the depth of the human being where freedom really exists. It is that part of us that is self-determined. That's the heart. That's why evil and good come out of the heart, it's because that's the part of us that is really us. It's really ours . And spirit is of that intensely personal nature.

God is spirit. God is wholly self-determined. We are self-determined only in a very small way. And this part of the human being--the spirit, the will, the heart--is the place where the work of spiritual formation has to be done. You remember the words of Samuel: "Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart." And functionally the will is the executive center of the self. When it comes to life in God through the new birth, its task is then the re-formation of the whole self in co-operation with God. Will is not exactly character, but is formed into character as it becomes habitual and automatic.

Now I must discuss will a bit further. You find human will in three dimensions or conditions. First of all there is what I call vital or impulsive will. This is a willing that is outwardly directed and moved by and toward things that are simply attractive. You see this in a baby. A little baby very quickly begins to be attracted to things, to reach for them, and move in relationship to them. And that's all there really is to will in the baby. If the will does not develop beyond this stage, it threatens to be identified with the person, and in our culture modern thought encourages identification of the person with the will rather than subordination of the will to the whole person living in God's world. Thus, "I want to" and "It pleases me" are now widely regarded as overriding reasons for doing something in our culture, when in fact it should never function alone as a reason for action. The meaning of the cross of Christ in human experience is that it stops any mere "I want to" from functioning as an adequate reason for action. The cross is therefore central to the moral life of humanity.

But there is also reflective will. The reflective will is oriented toward what is good for the person as a whole, not merely to what is desired. And so we have the conflict that we all know too well, as human beings, between the good and the bad, and the good and the not so good, and the good and the better. This conflict goes on constantly in our lives, and it trips up people at all levels of life in our Christian circles. That happens in cases where, for whatever precise reason, the reflective will has not effectively guided life.

Now when you bring the reflective will to life in Christ and add the instruction of the law and the person of Christ, along with the fellowship of his body, you then have the wherewithal to live in such a way that God is glorified in every thing that you do. The anticipation of this is reflected in such great passages as Colossians 3:17: "Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him." That becomes a real possibility. Inward transformation toward inner likeness to Christ makes it increasingly actual. Reflective will is the will oriented toward what is good for the person as a whole, not toward the merely desired.

So I'm hoping that you now have these two ideas: vital or impulsive will, where you simply choose what you desire, and reflective will, where instead of just doing what you want, you choose for what is good--and especially, as Christians, what is good under God, in the kingdom of God. Now I have to add the idea of embodied will. Embodied will is where one of the other two has sunk down into your body to such an extent that you automatically do what they dictate. And this is the standard situation for most human beings on earth. Their body is running their life from choices that have formed their will and positioned it in their body.

Take the case of Peter's denial as an illustration. That was an exercise of his embodied will. Peter did not reflect on the situation and then decide what to do. When he was faced with the accusation of association with Jesus he blurted out the denial. That is embodied will for evil. Peter reflected after the fact and discovered what he was really like inside.

To take another example, when people are reviled, what do they normally do? They revile in return. When they are hurt, they hurt back. That's embodied will as it exists in a fallen world. When you are driving on the freeway and you don't do what someone thinks you should, they may honk their horn at you, or they may give you the one-fingered salute, or they may do all sorts of things--they may shoot you. They do that in California. Well, the responses that then arise are expressions of embodied will. When someone "disses" another person, the other person does not say, "Hum. I have been dissed. What shall I do?" No. It's WHOOSH ! Just like that. That's what I call an "epidermal response," because it lies right at the surface of your 'skin'--your thought and feeling.

If you've got that picture, I hope I can now say very clearly what it means to have been spiritually formed in Christ, for spiritual formation in Christ transforms your embodied will. It transforms your embodied will so that what comes out of you automatically are the words and deeds of Christ. Now we never get to the point where we can stop thinking about our responses. We will always have to reflect. We will always have desires we should not act upon. There's nothing wrong with desires in themselves. It's when they become our masters that the wrong comes, which is the common circumstance in human life.

So let me say to you very formally: Christian spiritual formation is the process through which the embodied/reflective will takes on the character of Christ's will . It is the process through which (and you know Gal. 4:19) Christ is formed in you and me. Think of Paul's magnificent statement: "The life which I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Not faith in , but the faith of . I have taken his faith into me. I am now being inwardly the person that Christ has called me to be, and this inward faith has now spread throughout my socially embodied self.

Let me be as clear as possible. When we speak of spiritual formation we are speaking of the formation of the human spirit. And the spirit is the will or the heart and by extension, the character. And that, in practice, lives mainly in our bodies. The one reason why the idea of spiritual transformation through being merely preached at and taught doesn't work is because it does not involve the body in the process of transformation. One of the ironies of spiritual formation is that every "spiritual" discipline is a bodily behavior. We have to involve the body in spiritual formation because that's where we live and what we live from. So now spiritual formation is formation of the inner being of the human being, resulting in transformation of the whole person, including the body in its social context. Spiritual formation is never merely inward.

Now contrast that. Many people will speak of spiritual formation with reference to a particular tradition. For example, there's a Benedictine tradition in the Catholic church, and a Franciscan one. And I assure you that with reference to every Protestant group, there is a "spiritual formation" that qualifies those in that group to be one of that group, no matter if the language, "spiritual formation," is used to refer to the process involved.

I got on a plane in Chicago some time back to go to Louisville to speak at the Southern Baptist seminary there, and I'll tell you almost everyone on that plane looked like a Southern Baptist. Now you say, "What does a Southern Baptist look like?" I couldn't tell you if I had to, but they sure look that way, whatever it is. And I believe you will recognize that for such groups there is a set way of acting, speaking, doing things--of course this involves doctrines and church order and so on as well--and one way of speaking of spiritual formation is to say that people are being formed to do that . They're being formed in _____ group culture. You fill in the blank.

And this is where culture becomes tremendously important. Please don't understand me as saying there's anything wrong with culture. It is absolutely essential to human beings to be socially embodied. This is a part of the "vessel" that contains the treasure (II Cor. 4:7), and none of us escape it. We are all shaped is some such way. But that isn't spiritual formation in the sense in which we speak of Christ being formed in you and in which Paul could say "I was determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." We go beyond all those group differences in genuine spiritual formation in Christ, and this is the true ecumenicism of the Christian church across the ages and across faith-and-practices. We reach the unity of obedience to Christ from the inward formation of "Christ in us, the hope of glory."

And yet another contrast must be drawn. Sometimes we think of spiritual formation as formation by the Holy Spirit . Once again: That's essential. We can't evade it--formation by the Holy Spirit. But now I have to say something that may be challenging for you to think about: Spiritual formation is not all by the Holy Spirit. None without the Holy Spirit. But there's always more involved. And here again we run into the problems of passivity over against activity. Here lies the deepest challenge to the very idea of obedience to Christ in our times. We have to recognize that spiritual formation in us is something that is also done to us by those around us, by ourselves, and by activities which we voluntarily undertake.

Spiritual formation in Christ would, then, ideally result in a person whose reflective will for good, fully informed and possessed by Christ, has settled into their body in its social context to such an extent that their natural responses were always to think and feel and do as Christ himself would. Their epidermal as well as their deliberate responses are then those of Christ. When you see this and return to the message we heard previously today about Isaiah, you'll see where the ability to stand alone comes from. Standing alone comes from Christ in the inner person. When Christ is there within, even the social context is one where the reflective will for Christlikeness understands what's happening, makes the right choice, and in faith sees it through, with love and joy and peace and longsuffering and gentleness and goodness and kindness and faithfulness and self-control: the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit in the inner person expresses itself in that way.

In such a person, the saying of the apostle which we all know, "The things that I would not that I do, and the things that I would, that I do not," (Romans 7:19) is reversed: "The good that I would I do, and the evil that I would not I do not." Again: Of this person we no longer have the diagnosis, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." (Matthew 26:14)

Now if the Vision of this glorious kind of life is there, then the next step is Intention . I must decide that I will live that kind of life. And then, finally--and this is the area of what we call "spiritual disciplines," undertaken in the effort to actually obey Christ--we have to have a Method .

There has to be method. Suppose, for example, my intention is to become the kind of person who can heartily bless those who curse me. Or maybe they don't even curse me. They just think I am wrong or irrelevant. Jesus said to love your enemies, but how about those who bug you? That would be a real challenge too, wouldn't it? You see we have to get real with all these matters. I have to be able to learn what it is within me that keeps me from being able to do all that and to do something about it. And perhaps it is that I have not devoted myself sufficiently to being alone with God, or to the taking in of his Word, so that I can actually trust Him to bless me when others are cursing me. So what I have to do is to find the ways--the method --through which I can build my confidence in God's goodness, and break the power of habit in me of cursing back. Note the wonderful words from the old hymn, "He breaks the power of cancelled sin, and sets the prisoner free." Cancelled sin still has people in bondage. To say it's cancelled doesn't mean you're done with it. And to be "done with it" requires a method that may involve counseling, certainly involves the ministry of the word, and certainly involves worship. We're pretty good with these practices, but the ones that look more "Catholic," like solitude, silence, and so on, we're not so good with those. And usually I find they deal with the areas where our deepest problem lies.

So we have to find the ways of taking our body into solitude and silence, into service, as well as into worship, into prayer, as well as into study; and we have to plan our lives around this objective of fulfilling the vision that our intention has set before us. That, briefly, is how spiritual formation in Christ is done: vision, intention and method, in that order. In this way we succeed, as Paul says in Romans 6:13, in "yielding ourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God." It can be done. It can be yours and it can be mine, and we can give it to other people, if, in the fellowship of Christ, we offer them the vision, exemplify and help them with the intention, and teach them the method.

One of the things I most like about flying is when you take off through the clouds and finally break through them into the sunlight. We had a takeoff like that this morning in Los Angeles. And it is so thrilling to break into the sunlight. Spiritually, in "the inner man," we are meant to be a different species of human being. (Eph. 2:15) That's the picture, the New Testament picture--a different kind of humanity. And we can manifestly become that if we will set ourselves to learn and accept inward spiritual formation from the hand of Jesus Christ. Very likely we will not become perfect for some time yet; but we can, as Paul urged the Philippians to do, "become blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world." (Phil. 2:15)

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What Use Has Society for a Free Spirit?

What do free individuals do for a society? I am grateful for the opportunity to answer the question, as I also explore this theme in my own work, principally Recovering the Liberal Spirit: Nietzsche, Individuality and Spiritual Freedom (SUNY 2020). This question also compels us to talk about freedom in a somewhat unusual way. That is, rather than focusing on the liberating effects of rights and liberal institutions, we will focus more on the lived experiences of individuals in society. We do this by contemplating what I call spiritual freedom, which I consider a species or category of liberal freedom. The discourse on freedom in liberal societies is usually dominated by questions of economic and political liberty. These categories are undoubtedly important, and I do not mean to suggest that liberty lovers should cease discussing and defending economic and political liberties. But freedom extends past economic and political dimensions; it extends to our spiritual life. Spiritual freedom is an additional category of liberal freedom, which does not supplant but instead complements the economic and political liberties that we enjoy in the West.

I define spiritual freedom as intellectual freedom plus a concern for spiritual fullness. In the book I explain these terms in detail, but here I will provide just a brief sketch. Intellectual freedom is a good that almost everyone—and all liberals—are wont to affirm. If we are not intellectually free, then our thoughts are not our own, and our thoughts are not self-generated—we are prisoners to the thoughts of someone or something else. We might be in the grips of ideology or under the spell of an authoritative figure, but in any case our minds are not free to gain knowledge independently. Spiritual freedom contains intellectual freedom—which is often tied to the ideals of the Enlightenment—within it. Yet it further contains a concern for spiritual fulfillment. To be spiritually free is not as desirable as being spiritually full . Spiritual seekers pursue some sort of satisfied, or full, spiritual state. I call this a state of “spiritual fullness.” This sketch of spiritual freedom is quite abstract, and to make it more concrete I describe the free spirit, the embodiment or model of spiritual freedom. A free spirit is someone who is both intellectually free and one who pursues spiritual fullness on his/her own terms.

Who are these free spirits? After all, “free spirit” is a bit of a hackneyed term in modern culture, as they appear in Hollywood movies, pop culture and the vernacular. The “free spirit” tends to be portrayed as one who lives an alternative lifestyle, an escapist, one who refuses to follow the basic rules of social convention. They refuse to face “reality,” they are disenfranchised by the “system,” they cannot or will not work a “regular” job, and often they dabble in mysticism. In short, the popularized “free spirit” is generally taken to shun the “real world,” and to live instead in a world of dreams, illusions, and mystical intuitions.

The free spirit I discuss is quite different from the popularized “free spirit.” He is precisely concerned with avoiding dreams and illusions. Our free spirit is not an escapist; rather, he is concerned with avoiding the common pitfalls of escapism. Our free spirit, which borrows much from Nietzsche, is a skeptic who seeks above all to be free of illusions about the world. He desires to interact with the world on his own terms, and using his own faculties. Free spirits are skeptics, and here we see the emphasis on independence of mind or intellectual freedom. Our free spirit is also remarkable in the way she pursues meaning and fulfillment in her life, namely in her quest for spiritual fullness. She is able to face reality without falling to despair. Free spirits welcome a world without obvious rational meaning and without authoritative doctrines. These are a cause for wonder rather than crushing doubt; as an invitation to create meaning rather than as a terrifying abyss. The free spirit affirms life and creates value in it—that is, she achieves spiritual fullness—through independent discovery and through aesthetic perspective (which I will not discuss here for brevity’s sake), as opposed to traditional perspectives such as communal or religious doctrines, or through belief in a teleological human progress of some sort. Consequently, a free spirit is likely to be detached, to a large degree, from the traditions, morals, and general ethos of the community in which she lives. They wish to be free from custom and convention; free from groups and associations, and communities, that interrupt their solitude and create harmful attachments; and free from dogmatic claims to truth and authority.

Free spirits, then, will always be to some degree opposed to society as it exists around them. They require detachment from many things that others believe in and value most highly. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that they are often treated with suspicion by the majority of people. As thinkers like Mill, Tocqueville, Emerson and others have observed, society (particularly democratic society) doesn’t like difference. Conformity is the norm, and independent individuals are pressured in myriad ways to go along, at times even threatened. Emerson pithily explains this tension between society and “independent spirit”: “Society, to be sure, does not like this very well; it saith, Whoso goes to walk alone, accuses the whole world; he declares all to be unfit to be his companions; it is very uncivil, nay, insulting; Society will retaliate.” [1] There will always be tension between free spirits and society, but this tension is not merely adversarial. Each needs the other, for reasons we can just briefly discuss here. Free spirits are free compared to others in society; one is more or less spiritually free than others in a relative, not absolute, sense. Moreover, the independence of mind and aesthetic perspective characteristic of the free spirit are aspirational rather than permanent, and they admit of degrees (i.e., some are more spiritually free than others, and individuals themselves are more or less free at different times). Thus, a free spirit experiences and exercises spiritual freedom within the norms and conventions of the society in which they live, in what is an ongoing process of acceptance or rejection of what society presents to them.

But why does society, which views such individuals with suspicion, need free spirits? In short, because they are a bulwark against spiritual and political oppression. Such oppression may take the form of political propaganda, which free spirits will clearly resist, internally at the very least. In modern liberal democracies, the power of public opinion requires a check. Free spirits are consistently resistant to public opinion and the putative authority it can possess. Many political thinkers, such as Hume, Tocqueville, and Mill have cautioned liberal societies about the dangers of public opinion. Modern liberal societies are often not, in practice, as tolerant of freedom of thought as they are in theory. Tocqueville warned of the democratic “tyranny of the majority”; Hume worried that a politics of opinion would be run by parties running on extreme, and especially abstract, speculative principles that were in reality merely prejudices. And Mill: “Protection against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling, against the tendency of society to impose…its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them.” He continues, “there is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence; and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs as protection against political despotism.” [2] Free spirits have a role to play here: they demonstrate how intellectual and spiritual freedom in theory—i.e., freedom of thought protected through political rights—also becomes intellectual and spiritual freedom in practice . It is not merely the skeptical outlook of the free spirit that checks oppression, it is the way in which they live . Their independence, stubbornness, and resistance to social pressure in many forms provide a visible alternative to conventional norms. I stress this practice of spiritual freedom, perhaps obnoxiously, because the freedoms we do enjoy in the West are worth very little without exercise. We too often take for granted our freedoms, when they only reap rewards if we use them. A remark by Soren Kierkegaard makes the point plain, “aren’t people absurd! They never use the freedoms they do have but demand those they don’t have; they have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.” [3] Genuine freedom is something we all must continually work towards—it is aspirational.

I hope this brief sketch of the free spirit does justice to the idea, and I look forward to an opportunity to answer whatever questions come from readers and the other contributors to this forum. To conclude, I have suggested here that one important way to answer the question of what freedom does for a society is to look at the effects that genuinely free individuals have on that society. On the one hand, the lived experience of free spirits clarifies and expands what freedom can mean for us, as it evinces the aspirational quality of independence of mind and spiritual fullness. On the other hand, these same free individuals demonstrate these qualities and resist the power of conformity and the putative authority of public opinion. In so doing, they provide a check on dogmatism and fanaticism, and they loosen the knot of ideology. Put differently, what freedom does for society is enables the individuals within it to achieve spiritual freedom—these individuals in turn demonstrate and protect genuine independence of mind, supporting and furthering the freedom of society. These effects of free individuals seem to me beneficial in any age, but are perhaps even more necessary over the last century and to the present. The catastrophic damage caused by the mass movements of the 20 th century, both fascist and communist, point emphatically to the need for independent figures willing to resist the growth of collective ideology, like our free spirits. Today, illiberal movements on both the left and the right are forming rigid ideological doctrines and seeking to enforce conformity to them through a variety of methods, some more coercive than others. Individuals willing and able to resist these forces—to remain spiritually free despite great pressure to go along with the crowd—are crucial to the maintenance of a free society and should, in my view, be encouraged and admired. My humble goal in writing about spiritual freedom is to clarify what these individuals do for society and remind the rest of us why we should be grateful for them.

Finally, I wish to re-iterate the complementary, even symbiotic, nature of the categories of liberal freedom mentioned at the beginning of the essay. I focus on spiritual freedom, but insist also on the importance of more recognizable categories of freedom as part of a sort of liberal recipe. Our economic freedoms (freedom to work, engage in contracts, etc.) and political and civil freedoms (First Amendment protections, due process, etc.) combine with spiritual freedom to constitute genuine individual liberty (as I see it, economic, political, and spiritual freedom are all necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for the proper exercise of each other). This liberal combination is a robust and sophisticated recipe for freedom, and remains the greatest intellectual defense that lovers of liberty have against a whole host of political theories and movements that seek to diminish or eliminate the freedom of individuals.

[1] Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (EWRWE) ed. Brooks Atkinson (New York: Penguin/Random House, 2000), 87.

[2] John Stuart Mill, On Liberty ed. Gertrude Himmelfarb (New York: Penguin Books, 1981), 63.

[3] Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or: A Fragment of Life trans. Alastair Hannay (London: Penguin Books, Ltd., 1992), 43. At the time of Kierkegaard’s writing, Denmark was still a monarchy, and freedom of speech was not a protected right.

Also from this issue

Steven Pittz describes spiritual freedom as a kind of intellectual freedom that is concerned chiefly with achieving spiritual goals. In a liberal society, a free spirit may also stand as a bulwark against oppression, provincialism, and mindless conformity. As a result, those who are willing to rethink their society’s received wisdom are both vital and often persecuted.

Response Essays

David Owen offers two challenges to the claim that spiritual freedom is necessary for a free society: First, he suggests that voluntary associations and value-coalitions will naturally emerge in a free society and break up social despotism all on their own. The free spirit may not be all that necessary. But in his second challenge, he argues that it could be the case that free spirits do best with a degree of perhaps paradoxical social support, especially in the areas of education and the media, which are crucial to the production of free spirits and the spread of their ideas and examples.

The free spirit—unbound by social norms and received ideas—may or may not be an asset to liberalism, says Matthew Meyer. The fearless investigation of norms and ideas may lead an individual to reject liberalism itself. Meyer argues that, on a careful reading of Nietzsche, that philosopher’s free spirit ideal may even have more of an affinity with authoritarianism and empire than liberals like Steven Pittz would like to admit.

The Conversation

• To David Owen on Free Spirits, the Liberal Temperament, and Liberal Education by Steven Pittz
• To Matthew Meyer on Nietzsche’s Relationship to the Liberal Order by Steven Pittz
• The Free Spirit and the Vocations by David Owen
• Will a Free Spirit Be a Liberal Spirit? by Matthew Meyer
• Some Final Replies to Owen and Meyer by Steven Pittz

View the discussion thread.

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How Spirituality Can Benefit Your Health and Well-Being

Finding balance in and connection with something bigger

Spirituality vs. Religion

• How to Practice

Potential Pitfalls

What is spirituality.

Spirituality is a worldview that suggests a dimension to life beyond what we experience on the sensory and physical levels. In practice, this might entail religious or cultural practices and beliefs surrounding a higher being, connection with others and the world as a whole, and/or the pursuit of self-improvement.

Spirituality has been a source of comfort and relief for multitudes of people. Its meaning is highly individual but is often shared and expressed in group activities such as church services and holiday rituals. ​

Research has linked spirituality with well-being and health in the face of life challenges.

Signs of Spirituality

Spirituality is not a single path or belief system. There are many ways to experience spirituality and the benefits of a spiritual experience. How you define spirituality will vary. For some people, it's the belief in a higher power or a specific religious practice.

For others, it may involve experiencing a sense of connection to a higher state or a sense of inter-connectedness with the rest of humanity and nature. Some signs of spirituality can include:

• Asking deep questions about topics such as suffering or what happens after death
• Deepening connections with other people
• Experiencing compassion and empathy for others
• Experiencing feelings of interconnectedness
• Feelings of awe and wonder
• Seeking happiness beyond material possessions or other external rewards
• Seeking meaning and purpose
• Wanting to make the world a better place

Not everyone experiences or expresses spirituality in the same way. Some people may seek spiritual experiences in every aspect of their lives, while others may be more likely to have these feelings under specific conditions or in certain locations.

For example, some people may be more likely to have spiritual experiences in churches or other religious temples, while others might have these feelings when they're out enjoying nature.

Types of Spirituality

There are many different types of spirituality. Some examples of how people get in touch with their own spirituality include:

• Meditation or quiet time
• New age spirituality
• Service to their community
• Spending time in nature
• Spiritual retreats

Other people express their spirituality through religious traditions such as:

• Christianity

It is important to remember that there are many other spiritual traditions that exist throughout the world, including traditional African and Indigenous spiritual practices. Such spiritual practices can be particularly important to groups of people who have been subjected to the effects of colonialism.

Although spirituality and religion can overlap, here are some key points that differentiate the two.

Can be practiced individually

Doesn't have to adhere to a specific set of rules

Often focuses on a personal journey of discovering what is meaningful in life

Often practiced in a community

Usually based on a specific set of rules and customs

Often focuses on the belief in deities or gods, religious texts, and tradition

Uses of Spirituality

People often turn to spirituality to:

• Find purpose and meaning : Exploring spirituality can help people find answers to philosophical questions such as "What is the meaning of life?" and "What purpose does my life serve?"
• Cope with feelings of stress, depression, and anxiety : Spiritual experiences can be helpful when coping with the stresses of life. 
• Restore hope and optimism : Spirituality can help people develop a more hopeful outlook on life.
• Find a sense of community and support : Because spiritual traditions often involve organized religions or groups , becoming a part of such a group can serve as an important source of social support .

The Impact of Spirituality

While specific spiritual views are a matter of faith, research has demonstrated some of the benefits of spirituality and spiritual activity. The results may surprise no one who has found comfort in their religious or spiritual views, but they are definitely noteworthy in that they demonstrate in a scientific way that these activities do have benefits for many people.

The following are a few more of the many positive findings related to spirituality and health:

• Research has shown that religion and spirituality can help people cope with the effects of everyday stress. One study found that everyday spiritual experiences helped older adults better cope with negative feelings, and enhanced positive feelings.
• Research shows that older women are more grateful to God than older men, and they receive greater ​stress-buffering health effects due to this gratitude.
• According to research, those with an intrinsic religious orientation, regardless of gender, exhibited less physiological reactivity toward stress than those with an extrinsic religious orientation. Those who were intrinsically oriented dedicated their lives to God or a "higher power," while the extrinsically oriented ones used religion for external ends like making friends or increasing community social standing.

This, along with other research, demonstrates that there may be tangible and lasting benefits to maintaining involvement with a spiritual community. This involvement, along with the gratitude that can accompany spirituality, can be a buffer against stress and is linked to greater levels of physical health.

Dedication to God or a higher power translated into less stress reactivity, greater feelings of well-being, and ultimately even a decreased fear of death.

People who feel comfortable and comforted using spirituality as a coping mechanism for stress can rest assured that there's even more evidence that this is a good idea for them. Prayer works for young and old alike. Prayer and spirituality have been linked to:

• Better health
• Greater psychological well-being
• Less depression  
• Less hypertension
• Less stress, even during difficult times  
• More positive feelings
• Superior ability to handle stress

How to Practice Spirituality

Whether you are rediscovering a forgotten spiritual path, reinforcing your commitment to an already well-established one, or wanting to learn more about spirituality for beginners, there are countless ways to start exploring your spiritual side and help improve your well-being.

Spirituality is a very personal experience, and everyone’s spiritual path may be unique. Research shows, however, that some spiritual stress relief strategies have been helpful to many, regardless of faith. Some things you can do to start exploring spirituality include:

• Pay attention to how you are feeling : Part of embracing spirituality means also embracing what it means to be human, both the good and the bad. 
• Focus on others : Opening your heart, feeling empathy, and helping others are important aspects of spirituality.
• Meditate : Try spending 10 to 15 minutes each morning engaged in some form of meditation .
• Practice gratitude : Start a gratitude journal and record what you are grateful for each day. This can be a great reminder of what is most important to you and what brings you the greatest happiness.
• Try mindfulness : By becoming more mindful, you can become more aware and appreciative of the present. Mindfulness encourages you to be less judgmental (both of yourself and others) and focus more on the present moment rather than dwelling on the past or future.

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One potential pitfall of spirituality is a phenomenon known as spiritual bypassing . This involves a tendency to use spirituality as a way to avoid or sidestep problems, emotions, or conflicts.

For example, rather than apologizing for some type of emotional wound you have caused someone else, you might bypass the problem by simply excusing it and saying that "everything happens for a reason" or suggesting that the other person just needs to "focus on the positive."

The Takeaway

Research has noted a link between spirituality and resilience in the face of challenges. Whether this owes to a higher power, a sense of peace, community connection, or some other factor, spirituality may help foster your sense of well-being.

Akbari M, Hossaini SM. The relationship of spiritual health with quality of life, mental health, and burnout: The mediating role of emotional regulation . Iran J Psychiatry . 2018;13(1):22-31. PMID:29892314

Whitehead BR, Bergeman CS. Coping with daily stress: Differential role of spiritual experience on daily positive and negative affect .  J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci . 2012;67(4):456-459. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbr136

Manning LK. Spirituality as a lived experience: Exploring the essence of spirituality for women in late life . Int J Aging Hum Dev . 2012;75(2):95-113. doi:10.2190/AG.75.2.a

McMahon, BT, Biggs HC. Examining spirituality and intrinsic religious orientation as a means of coping with exam anxiety . Society, Health & Vulnerability . 2012;3(1). doi:10.3402/vgi.v3i0.14918

Johnson KA. Prayer: A helpful aid in recovery from depression . J Relig Health . 2018;57(6):2290-2300. doi:10.1007/s10943-018-0564-8

Wachholtz AB, Sambamthoori U. National trends in prayer use as a coping mechanism for depression: Changes from 2002 to 2007 . J Relig Health . 2013;52(4):1356-68. doi:10.1007/s10943-012-9649-y

Gonçalves JP, Lucchetti G, Menezes PR, Vallada H. Religious and spiritual interventions in mental health care: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials . Psychol Med . 2015;45(14):2937-49. doi:10.1017/S0033291715001166

Arrey AE, Bilsen J, Lacor P, Deschepper R. Spirituality/religiosity: A cultural and psychological resource among sub-Saharan African migrant women with HIV/AIDS in Belgium .  PLoS One . 2016;11(7):e0159488. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159488

Paul Victor CG, Treschuk JV. Critical literature review on the definition clarity of the concept of faith, religion, and spirituality . J Holist Nurs. 2019;38(1):107-113. doi:10.1177/0898010119895368

By Elizabeth Scott, PhD Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Berkley Center

Reflections on christianity and freedom.

By: William Inboden

December 17, 2012

Yet as a theological principle, Christianity’s emphasis on the interior and eternal dimensions of freedom establishes a foundation for some of the exterior and temporal dimensions of freedom, including freedom of conscience and freedom from religious coercion. Thus Christ’s famous command to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17) was not just a directive that his followers obey the civic authorities, but also a declaration distinguishing between the areas of life that Caesar was competent to rule in, and those he was not. The interior freedom promised by Christianity had at least an exterior implication.

Any inquiry into the relationship between Christianity and religious freedom soon encounters a paradox of history. Christianity has been associated with some of the most notorious episodes of religious intolerance in history, yet Christianity is also associated with some of the greatest advances of religious freedom in history. Indeed, it is these former instances that are often cited as examples of the alleged hypocrisy of Christianity: the Spanish Inquisition, the burning of Servetus in Geneva, the social constraints of Puritanism, and so on. But the accompanying historical record of the Christian tradition’s role in the realization and advance of religious liberty bears another witness. Indeed, perhaps it is this implicit (and sometimes explicit) expectation that the Christian faith support religious freedom that accounts for the severe judgments incurred when it has not. One way to view the unfolding of church history is as an ongoing interaction between the biblical principles described at the outset and the human experience. This historical drama in turn has produced some consequential figures who, in drawing on the theological resources of the Christian tradition during times of great tumult, laid key foundation stones in the development of religious liberty as a political right. Three of them, discussed below, are Martin Luther, Roger Williams, and Charles Malik.

Luther’s appearance in 1521 before the Diet of Worms is regarded by Protestants as a landmark theological moment, but it was also a landmark moment for religious liberty as well. The words of his famous refusal to recant his teachings and writings are instructive: “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason…my conscience is captive to the Word of God, I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.” While Luther’s primary concern was defending his theological convictions about salvation and ecclesial authority, the basis of his appeal was liberty of conscience – a precedent that countless other religious dissenters who followed would take as their lodestar. Luther soon applied this insight to his understanding of the very nature of religious faith. “Faith is a free work to which no one can be forced. It is a divine work in the spirit. Let alone then that outward force should compel or create it.” For Luther, his belief that Christian salvation began as a sovereign act of God led naturally to the conclusion that the State had no competence to interfere. To be sure, in practice Luther did not always honor the spirit or letter of these insights, but more important is the precedent he set for those who later did. Historian Roland Bainton has described religious liberty as one of the signature legacies of the Protestant Reformation. “The age of the Reformation prepared the way [for religious liberty] in the realm of fact by breaking the monopoly of a single confession, and in the realm of idea elaborated all of the salient concepts which in the West came into their own through the Enlightenment.”

One hundred years after Luther, a Cambridge graduate ordained as an Anglican minister named Roger Williams became disillusioned with what he believed to be the errors of Anglicanism and sought refuge in New England. Arriving in Boston in 1631, he soon began attracting many followers – and attracting the displeasure of the Puritan authorities – with his then-unusual views. He held that civil authorities had no authority in religious matters, and so could not require church attendance on the Sabbath or punish citizens for violating any of the first four commandments. For a Puritan society founded on the conviction that they had a national covenant with God, and that He would bless and provide for them only so long as the society stayed united and pure, such views were not only unsettling – they were seditious. After being rebuked by the Massachusetts Bay Colony authorities, Williams just became more radical. He soon began teaching that the King of England had no authority to grant the colony its charter in the first place, and charged the King with blasphemy for usurping the prerogatives of God. Not surprisingly, this upset the Puritan leaders even more; when they denounced Williams again, he responded by declaring all of their churches apostate. At their wits end, the Puritan authorities banished Williams from the province. He headed south in the dead of winter, depending on the care of Indians whom he had befriended previously, until he arrived in present-day Rhode Island and founded Providence. Williams by this time had come to embrace believer’s baptism, and in March of 1639, a man named Ezekiel Hollyman baptized Williams, who in turn baptized Hollyman and ten others to form the first Baptist church in America. From that point to his death, Williams was not a member of any particular church. As the eminent Puritan historian Edmund Morgan has described him, Williams was “a charming, sweet-tempered, winning man, courageous, selfless, God-intoxicated – and stubborn – the very soul of separation…[he] would separate not only from erroneous churches but also from everyone who would not denounce erroneous churches as confidently as he did…he could follow a belief to its conclusion with a passionate literalness that bordered on the ridiculous.” Eccentric and hyper-schismatic though he was, Williams’ distinction between civil and religious authority, his progressive relations with the Native Americans, and his resolute commitment to freedom of conscience all stand as admirable legacies.

If Roger Williams laid the groundwork for religious liberty to be realized in the eventual founding of the United States, three centuries later Charles Malik helped codify it as a right for the rest of the world. A Harvard philosophy professor, distinguished diplomat, and one of the main architects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Malik made a particular priority of ensuring that the UDHR include a protection of religious freedom. Malik’s own background as a Lebanese Christian who grew up amidst the multiple faiths of his homeland, including Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, Druze, and Christians, gave him a particularly acute firsthand appreciation for the importance of religious toleration. Indispensable to this, Malik believed, was the right not only to believe and practice one’s faith, but also to change it. Any restrictions on the right to leave one’s religion and adopt another (or none at all for that matter) amounted to an unconscionable interposition of the State between the human person and the transcendent. Accordingly the final wording of Article 18 of the UDHR bears Malik’s distinct imprint: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; this includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.” As significant as the principle of religious liberty that Malik articulated was the foundation that he asserted. Human rights in general, and religious liberty in particular, he believed, were endowed in all human beings not by an abstract deity but by the “Lord of History” by which Malik meant the biblical God. He was clear that belief in this deity was not a prerequisite for having the right to religious liberty – thus his advocacy for the rights of all people – but in his mind this right had a transcendent grounding derived from the Christian faith.

Considered from the vantage point of history, the relationship between Christianity and religious freedom is not a mere set of abstraction ideational influences, but a demonstration of the role of individual Christians, attempting to be faithful to the implications of their faith in their own lives, yet with great consequence for the lives of others and for generations to come.

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Christianity & Freedom: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

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Spirituality is a broad and subjective concept that encompasses a sense of connection to something greater than oneself. It often involves exploring questions about the meaning of life, the nature of existence, and the purpose of our existence.

Different cultures, belief systems, and philosophies have their own interpretations of spirituality. For some, it is linked to organized religion and faith in a higher power or deity. For others, it may be more secular, focusing on inner peace, mindfulness, and a sense of interconnectedness with the universe.

Hello, I have a similar line of thought. I am atheist but things fell into place about all this a few months ago I did not need to throw away the idea of the all-powerful after all. It is not God. It is greater than all Gods and religions. Some religions believe almost the same thing. The “all powerful all” is simply the totality of what is. It had no mind or beingness at first. It was what we call the big bang. Life evolved with no designer or God. This totality still is all and still has all power. Sentients is within it. We serve the all powerful and its servant. This is a very big very old universe. I speculate very advanced extremely advanced beings are here and can be connected to with prayer and mediation. Of course they agree with spiritual atheism. They also know about the all powerful all. It is where they came from just like us. please check out my website www/thewayoffairness.com.

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A Summary and Analysis of Immanuel Kant’s ‘What is Enlightenment?’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘What is Enlightenment?’, full title ‘Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?’, is a 1784 essay by the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). As the longer title suggests, Kant’s essay is a response to a question (posed by a clergyman, Reverend Johann Friedrich Zöllner) concerning the nature of philosophical enlightenment .

What is enlightenment, and how best might it be achieved in a civilised society? These are the key questions Kant addresses, and poses answers to, in his essay, which can be read in full here . Below, we summarise the main points of his argument and offer an analysis of Kant’s position.

‘What is Enlightenment?’: summary

Kant begins ‘What is Enlightenment?’ by asserting that enlightenment is man’s emergence from self-imposed immaturity. He defines ‘immaturity’ here as the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another. Kant’s message to his readers is that they should have the courage to use their own understanding, rather than relying on another person’s guidance. That is the ‘motto’ of enlightenment.

Kant acknowledges that remaining ‘immature’ is the easy option for most people, because it’s the lazy option. People can turn to a priest to be their moral conscience for them, or a doctor to determine their diet. Women have been rendered perpetually immature by men in order to keep them meek and ignorant.

The key to enlightenment, Kant asserts, is freedom. If people are granted that, enlightenment will follow. The problem is that most people aren’t free. Even those ‘guardians’ and authority figures who keep others enslaved are themselves victim of this system, which they inherit from those who have gone before them.

Kant distinguishes between what he considers a public freedom to exercise one’s reason (and to question the way things are) and the civic duty we have to obey orders without questioning them. For instance, a soldier engaged in military action cannot afford to question the order his superior gives him: he needs to obey the order without question, because that is his ‘civic’ duty at that moment.

But off-duty, if that soldier wished to philosophise publicly (e.g., in the role of a scholar) about the flaws in the military system, he should be free to do so.

The same goes for paying taxes. One can argue in parliament, or write pamphlets and newspaper articles about whether high taxation is a good thing (i.e., exercising one’s public duty to question things), but when the taxman sends you a bill, you’d better pay up (i.e., observe your civic duty).

Kant invites us to consider whether a society of priests could set down some rules which would be binding for generations to come. He says this would be wrong, because it denies future generations the chance to question such rules, and social development would be impeded as a result. He also argues that an enlightened monarch would allow his subjects true freedom to think and do as they wish in religious matters, and the monarch should keep his nose out of such matters.

Next, Kant argues that, at the time of writing, people are not living in an ‘enlightened age’ but in an ‘age of enlightenment’: that is, we’ve not attained full enlightenment yet because the process is a long one, but progress is (gradually) being made, thanks largely to the enlightened monarch under whom Kant himself is living, Frederick the Great.

Kant concludes ‘What is Enlightenment?’ by considering the difference between civil and intellectual and spiritual freedom. Perhaps paradoxically, the less civil freedom people have, the more intellectual freedom they gain, and as their intellectual abilities grow, so the health of a particular society grows as governments can start treating people with dignity.

‘What is Enlightenment?’: analysis

‘What is Enlightenment?’ is concerned with every citizen’s public right to use their reason: everyone in a civilised society, Kant argues, should have the freedom to question the status quo and take part in a debate about how society should be governed and maintained. But such public rights and freedoms need to be balanced by the citizen’s private or civic responsibility to obey the law, and observe the status quo, when required to.

In other words, even while we discuss and philosophise about how to improve society, we have to live in the one we currently have, and civilisation would break down if people chose, for instance, to stop following laws they considered unjust or refused to pay their taxes because they disagreed with the levels of taxation.

‘What is Enlightenment?’ is fundamentally a clarion-call to people about the need to ‘dare to be wise’. What is required is not merely intellect but also a willingness to engage one’s reason and exercise that reason upon the everyday things that govern our lives: political systems, financial structures, education, trade, and much else.

Enlightenment is mankind’s coming-to-maturity, a willingness to think for oneself and emerge from an immature state where we hand over the power and responsibility to authority figures, whether they’re priests, doctors, teachers, or politicians.

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Question of the Month

What is freedom, each answer below receives a book. apologies to the entrants not included..

Freedom is the power of a sentient being to exercise its will. Desiring a particular outcome, people bend their thoughts and their efforts toward realizing it – toward a goal. Their capacity to work towards their goal is their freedom. The perfect expression of freedom would be found in someone who, having an unerring idea of what is good, and a similarly unerring idea of how to realize it, then experienced no impediment to pursuing it. This perfect level of freedom might be experienced by a supreme God, or by a Buddha. Personal, internal impairments to freedom manifest mainly as ignorance of what is good, or of the means to attaining it, while external impairments include physical and cultural obstacles to its realization. The bigger and more numerous these impairments are, the lower the level of freedom.

The internal impairments are the most significant. To someone who has a clear understanding of what is good and how to achieve it, the external constraints are comparatively minor. This is illustrated in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom, an old slave who has no political (that is, external) liberty, endures injustice and hardship, while his owners enjoy lives of comparative ease. But, though he does sometimes feel sadness and discouragement at the injustices inflicted on himself and others, as a Christian he remains convinced that the real bondage in life consists in sin. So he would not trade places with his masters if it required renouncing his faith and living as they do. To take another angle, the central teaching of the Buddha is liberation from suffering – a freedom which surely all sentient beings desire. The reason we don’t have it yet, he says, is our ignorance . From the Buddhist point of view, even Uncle Tom is ignorant in this sense, although he is still far ahead of his supposed owners.

To become free, then, we must first seek knowledge of the way things really are, and then put ourselves into the correct relationship with that knowledge.

Paul Vitols, North Vancouver, B.C.

Let’s look at this question through three lenses: ethical, metaphysical, and political.

Ethically, according to Epicurus, freedom is not ‘fulfilling all desires’, but instead, being free from vain, unnecessary, or addictive desires. The addict is enslaved even when he obtains his drug; but the virtuous person is free because she doesn’t even desire the drug. Freedom is when the anger, anxiety, greed, hatred, and unnecessary desires drop away in the presence of what’s beloved or sacred. This means that the greatest freedom is ‘freedom from’ something, not ‘freedom to’ do something. (These two types of freedoms correspond to Isaiah Berlin’s famous distinction between ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ types of freedom.)

Metaphysically – as concerning free will – the key may be understanding how human choice can be caused but not determined . In the case of free will, freedom emerges from, but is not reducible to, the activity of the brain. In ways we do not yet understand, humans sometimes have the ability to look over and choose between competing paths. When it comes to consciousness and free will, I trust my introspection that both exist more than I trust the supposedly ‘scientific’ worldviews which have no room for either.

As for politics, the most important freedom is freedom of speech. We need this for truth, good thinking, tolerance, open-mindedness, humility, self-confidence, love, and humor. We discover truth only when we are free to explore alternative ideas. We think well only when people are free to give us feedback. We develop the virtues of tolerance and open-mindedness only when we are free to hear disagreeable ideas. We develop humility when our ideas are tested in a free public arena, while self-confidence arises from those ideas that survive these tests. We love only in freedom as we learn to love others in spite of their ideas, not because of them. And we can laugh deeply only where there is freedom to potentially offend. “Give me freedom or give me death!” is not actually a choice, for we are all dead without freedom.

Paul Stearns, Blinn College, Georgia

There are many kinds of freedom – positive, negative, political, social, etc – but I think that most people would say that generally speaking, freedom is the ability to do what one wants. However, what if what one wants is constrained by external factors, such as alcohol, drugs, or torture? We might also add internal impediments, such as extraordinary emotion, and maybe genetic factors. In these cases, we say that one’s will is not completely free. This view is philosophically called ‘soft determinism’, but it is compatible with having a limited free will.

One interpretation of physical science pushes the idea of constrained will to the ultimate, to complete impotence. This view is often called ‘hard determinism’, and is incompatible with free will. In this view, everyone’s choosing is constrained absolutely by causal physical laws. No one is ever free to choose, this position says, because no one could have willed anything other than what she does will. Hard determinism requires that higher levels of organization above atoms do not add new laws of causation to the strictly physical, but that idea is just a conjecture.

A third view, called ‘indeterminism’, depends on the idea that not all events have a cause. Any uncaused event would seem to just happen. But that won’t do it for freedom. If I make a choice, I want to say that is my choice, not that it happened at random: I made it; I caused it. But how could that be possible?

I would answer that if what I will is the product of my reasoning , then I am the cause, and moreover, that my reasoning is distinct from the causal physical laws of nature. At this point, I have left indeterminism and returned to soft determinism, but with a new perspective. Reasoning raises us above hard determinism because hard determinism means events obeying one set of laws – the physical ones – while reasoning means obeying another set: the laws of logic. This process is subject to human error, and the inputs to it may sometimes be garbage; but amazingly, we often get it right! Our freedom is limited in various further ways; but our ability to choose through reasoning is enough to raise us above being the ludicrous, pathetic, epiphenomenal puppets of hard determinism.

John Talley, Rutherfordton, North Carolina

Freedom can be considered metaphysically and morally. To be free metaphysically means to have some control over one’s thoughts and decisions. One is not reduced to reacting to outside causes. To be free morally means to have the ability to live according to moral standards – to produce some good, and to attain some virtue. Moral freedom means that we can aspire to what is morally good, or resist what is good. As such, the moral life needs an objective standard by which to measure which actions are good and which are bad.

If hard determinism is true then we have no control over our thought and decisions. Rather, everything is explicable in terms of matter, energy, time, and natural laws, and we are but a small part of the cosmic system, which does not have us in mind, and which cannot give freedom. Some determinists, such as Sam Harris, admit as much. Others try to ignore this idea and its amoral implications, since they are so counterintuitive. They call themselves ‘compatibilists’. But if determinism is true, moral freedom disappears for at least two reasons. Firstly, morality requires the metaphysical freedom that determinism rules out. If a child throws a rock through a window, we scold the child, not the rock, because the former had a choice while the latter did not. Ascribing real moral guilt in criminal cases also requires metaphysical freedom, for the same reason. Secondly, if determinism, or even naturalism, is true, there is no objective good that we should pursue. Naturalism is the idea that there is nothing beyond the natural world – no realm of objective values, virtues, and duties, for instance. But if this is true, then there’s no objective good to freely choose. All is reduced to natural properties, which have no moral value. Morality dissolves away into chemistry and conditioning.

Since metaphysical freedom exists (we know this because we experience choosing) and moral freedom is possible (since some moral goals are objectively good), we need a worldview which allows both kinds of freedom. It must accept that human beings are able to transcend the causal confines of the material cosmos. It must also grant humans the ability to act with respect to objective moral values. Judeo-Christian theism is one worldview which fulfils these needs, given its claim that humans are free moral agents who answer to (God’s) objective moral standards.

Douglas Groothuis, Professor of Philosophy, Denver Seminary

According to Hannah Arendt, thinking about freedom is a hopeless enterprise, since one cannot conceive of freedom without immediately being caught in a contradiction. This is that we are free and hence responsible, but inner freedom (free will) cannot fully develop from the natural principles of causality. In the physical world, everything happens according to necessity governed by causality. So, assuming that we are entirely material beings governed by the laws of physics, it is impossible to even consider the idea of human freedom. To say that we are free beings, by contrast, automatically assumes that we are a free cause – that is, we’re able to cause something with our will that is itself without cause in the physical world! This idea of ‘transcendental will’, first introduced by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), says that free will must be non-physical in order to operate – in other words, not part of the causal system of the physical world. Yet even this doesn’t fully address the issue of freedom. In order for freedom to have any meaning, one has to also act through something in the external world, thereby interrupting a necessary, physical, chain of causes. However, to act is to use a fundamentally different faculty than the one we use to think with. Thought cannot extend itself to the realm of action. This gap between action and thought – a gap through which freedom cannot pass – reveals that it is impossible to have a theoretical grasp of freedom! So all in all, the traditional understanding of free will is an incoherent conception.

Actually, politics and law both assume freedom to be a self-evident truth, especially in a modern liberal democracy. Indeed, the very evidence of human freedom, the tangible transformation that happens in the material world due to our ideas, flows best from our collective action in this public realm.

Shinyoung Choi, Centreville, Virginia

“I will slay the children I have borne!” are the words of Medea in Euripides’ play of that name. Medea takes vengeance on her husband Jason for betraying her for another woman, by murdering her own children and Jason’s new wife. The tragedy of this drama relates well to the question of human freedom. Medea showed by her actions that she was free to do things which by their nature would normally be assumed to be outside the realm of possibility. Having the ability to choose one thing over another on the basis of desire is what Immanuel Kant dismissively called ‘the Idea of Freedom’. Kant, though, asserts a different definition of freedom. He formulated a positive conception of freedom as the free capacity for choice that characterizes the essence of being human. However, the radical nature of this freedom implies that we are free even to choose the option of being free or unfree.

Kant argued of freedom that “insofar as it is not restrained under certain rules, it is the most terrible thing there could be.” Instead, to realize its true potential value, freedom must be ‘consistent with itself’. That is to say, my use of freedom must be consistent with everyone else’s use of their freedom. This law of consistency is established by reason, since reason requires consistency in its ideas. Indeed, Kant argues that an action is truly free only if it is motivated by reason alone. This ability to be motivated by reason alone Kant called ‘the autonomy of the will’. If, on the other hand, we choose to subjugate our reason to our desires and passions, we become slaves to our animalistic instincts and are not acting freely. So, by this argument, freedom is the ability to be governed by reason to act in accordance with and for the sake of the law of freedom . Thus, freedom is not what we want to do, but what we ought to do. Should we ignore the laws of nature, we would cease to exist as natural beings; but should we ignore our reason and disobey the law of freedom, we would cease to be human beings.

Medea, just like all human beings, had freedom of choice. She chose to make her reason the slave of her passion for revenge, and thus lost her true freedom. I believe that the real tragedy is not in that we as human beings have the freedom of choice, but that we freely choose to be unfree. Without true freedom, we lose our humanity and bring suffering on ourselves – as illustrated in this and all the other tragedies of drama and of history.

Nella Leontieva, Sydney

In an article I read just after Christmas, but which was first published in 1974, the science fiction author Ursula Le Guin says “To be free, after all, is not to be undisciplined.” Two weeks later, by chance I came across a quotation, apparently from Aristotle: “Through discipline comes freedom.” Both statements struck me as intuitively obvious, to the extent that to the question ‘What is Freedom?’ I would answer ‘Freedom is discipline’. However, I cannot ground this approach further except in the existentialist sense, in which sense I would say it is fundamental.

How can this inversion of freedom be justified? Broadly, freedom is the ability to choose. But no-one, or nothing, can choose in isolation – there are always constraints. How much freedom somebody actually has boils down to the nature of these constraints and how the individual deals with them. Constraints impose to varying degrees the requirement for an individual to discipline their choices. For example, a person might be constrained by a political system, and discipline themselves to act circumspectly within the confines of that system. They might consider that they physically have the freedom to act otherwise, such as to take part in a demonstration, but are constrained by other priorities. For example, they need to keep their job in order to feed their children, so that they choose not to use that freedom. Such an individual may still regard themselves as having freedom in other contexts, and ultimately may always regard their mind as free. Nothing external can constrain what one thinks: freedom concerns what we do with those thoughts.

Lindsay Dannatt, Amesbury, Wiltshire

Freedom is being able to attempt to do what we desire to do, with reasonable knowledge, which no-one can or will obstruct us from achieving through an arbitrary exercise of their will .

To clarify this, let me distinguish between usual and unusual desires. The usual ones are desires that anyone can reasonably expect to be satisfied as part of everyday life, while the unusual are desires no-one can expect to be satisfied. Examples of a usual desire include wanting to buy groceries from a shop, or wanting to earn enough money to pay your bills, while an example of an unusual desire is wanting to headline the Glastonbury Festival. Although it’s certainly the case that people might prevent me from achieving that goal through an arbitrary exercise of their will, it is not at all guaranteed that a lack of this impediment will result in my achieving the goal. We cannot claim a lack of freedom on the basis that our unusual desires go unsatisfied. Meanwhile, it is almost certainly guaranteed that I can shop for groceries if no-one else attempts to stop me through arbitrary actions.

An arbitrary act is an act carried out according to no concrete or explicit set of rules applicable to all. A person might invent their own rules and act according to them, but this is still arbitrary because their act is not mediated by a set of rules applicable to all. On these same lines, a person in a dictatorship is not free, because although there may be a set of rules ostensibly applicable to all, the application of these rules is at the discretion of the political leader or government. Contrariwise, a person can experience a just law as unfair and feel that their freedom is decreased when in fact the full freedom of all depends on that law. For example, a law against vandalism may be experienced by some political activists as unfair, or even unjust, but it applies equally to everyone. If this latter condition is not met, people are not free.

Let me add that we cannot define freedom as ‘the absence of constraint or interference’, since we cannot know that interference isn’t taking place. We can conceive of hard-to-see manipulative systems which evade even our most careful investigation. And their non-existence is equally imperceptible to us.

Alastair Gray, Brighton

Freedom is an amalgam of dreams, strivings, and controlled premeditated actions which yield repeatable demonstrable successes in the world . There is collective freedom and individual freedom . I’ll only consider individual freedom here, but with minimal tweaking this concept could apply to collective freedom, too.

Every baby is born with at least one freedom – the ability to find, suckle at, and leave the breast. Other actions are doable, but are ragged and out of control. Over time more freedom is achieved. How does that happen? First, through crying, cooing, smiling, the newborn learns to communicate. First word, first step, first bike ride – all are major freedom breakthroughs. All are building blocks to future successes.

Let a dot on a page represent a specific individual and a closed line immediately about the dot represent a fence, limiting freedom. Freedom is a push upon this fence. A newly gained freedom forces the fence to back even further away from the dot, expanding the area enclosed about the individual. This area depicts the accumulated freedoms gained in life. The shape is random, not circular, since it is governed by the diversity and complexity of the individual’s successes. If Spanish is not learned, freedom to use Spanish was not gained. But if freedom with the violin is gained, that freedom would force the fence to retreat, adding a ‘violin-shaped’ bulge of freedom. The broader the skill, the wider the bulge. The greater the complexity, the deeper the bulge.

The fence limiting each individual’s freedom is unique. Its struts consist of the individual’s DNA, location, historical time frame, the community morays, the laws of the land, and any barrier which inhibits the individual’s goals. At an individual’s maximum sustained effort to be free from their constraints, the fence becomes razor wire. Continued sustained effort at the edge, without breaking through or expanding one’s territory, leaves the individual shattered, bleeding, and possibly broken.

Years fly, in time the hair greys or is lost, along with the greying of memory and other mental and physical abilities. Freedom weakens. Strength to hold back the fence’s elasticity weakens as well. So begins freedom’s loss in a step-by-step retreat.

Bob Preston, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Freedom is an illusion. “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does,” wrote Jean-Paul Sartre. But man is not so much condemned to be free as condemned to bear the consequences of his choices and to take responsibility for his actions. This is not freedom . Freedom differs from free will. We do have choice , no matter what; but it is very questionable whether choosing between several unattractive options corresponds with actual freedom . Freedom would be the situation in which our choices, made through our free will, have no substantial consequences, which, say, limit our choices. This is impossible.

Man has a free will, but that does not make him ultimately free. On the contrary, our choices are mainly driven by survival in a competitive environment. Moreover, as long as people live with others, their freedom is limited by morals, laws, obligations and responsibilities – and that’s in countries where human rights are being respected. So all the freedoms we experience or aspire to are relative: freedom of opinion, freedom of action, freedom to choose a career, residence, or partner. Every choice necessarily leads to a commitment, and thus to obligations and responsibilities. These in turn lead to limitations; but also to meaning. The relative freedom to make a positive contribution to the world gives life meaning, and that is what man ultimately seeks.

Caroline Deforche, Lichtervelde, Belgium

Freedom? Bah, humbug! When humanity goes extinct, there will be no such thing as freedom. In the meantime, it is never more than a minimized concession from a grudging status quo. When it comes to dealing with each other, we are wrenching, scraping, clutching, covetous creatures, hard as a flint from which no generous fire glows. The problem with discerning this general truth is, not everyone is paid enough to be as true to human nature as merchant bankers, and society bludgeons the rest of us with rules that determine who does the squeezing in any given social structure – be it a family, a club, a company, or the state.

If this perspective seems to be a pessimistic denial of the ‘human spirit’, consider slavery and serfdom: both are means of squeezing others that their given society’s status quo condones. And, moreover, both states still exist, on the fringes – proving how little stands between humanity and savagery. The moral alternatives demand faith in the dubious artifice of absolute references: God(s), Ancestors, Equality, the Greater Good… However, if your preferred moral reference is at odds with the status quo’s, then you will feel you’re being denied your ‘freedom’.

So, freedom depends on the status quo, which, in turn, depends on whichever monoliths justify it. Absolute monarchies have often derived their power from the supposed will of God. Here there can be no freedom – just loyalty . Communism bases its moral claim on monolithic Equality, where the equal individuals cannot themselves be trusted with something as lethal as freedom, so it is held back by the Party. Capitalism says the squeezing should be done by those who succeed at accumulating economic spoils, and their attendant cast of amoral deal-brokers. Which is all fine. No system is perfect; and freedom is whatever exception you can wrench back from an unfavourable status quo. To win freedom, you must either negotiate or revolt. In turn, a successful status quo adapts to the ever-changing dynamics of who holds the power, and the will, to squeeze others. So freedom is a spectral illusion. If you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of it; but then it’s gone, wrenched back out of your feeble grasp.

Andrew Wrigley, York

As sky, so too water As air, so swims the silver cloud As body, so too the human mind is free To act to love to live to dream to be As circumstance reflects serendipity ‘I am the architect of my own destiny’ So say Sartre, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty. This strange friend and foe: freedom Is mine, is me A mind to mirror to will to learn to choose For as living erodes all roads and thee ‘You are the architect of your own history’ So say the existentialists in a Paris café, For freedom, like sky, cloud, rain, and air Is what it means to be. Yes, thinkers, dreamers, disbelievers This is freedom: At any moment we can change our course Outrun contingency, outwit facticity Petition our thrownness to let us be For we are the architects of our own lives. This is the meaning of being free.

Bianca Laleh, Totnes, Devon

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A Spiritual Inventory

Spirituality is the aspect of recovery that I think most often gets overlooked. Some of us are very comfortable embracing spirituality, but for others, it feels weird or uncomfortable.

So let me say up front that when we talk about the spiritual side of recovery, we’re not talking about religion or rules. We’re talking about a relationship, between us and God. That’s it. This relationship is a vital part of finding serenity and healing,  so let’s take a minute to look at the spiritual side of recovery and then we’ll talk about building what we call a “spiritual inventory”.

This lesson goes with Principle 4 and Step 4 of the Celebrate Recovery 12 Steps and 8 Principles :

PRINCIPLE 4 Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.

“Happy are the pure in heart.” —Matthew 5:8

STEP 4 We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.”—Lamentations 3:40

One of the teachings we’ve carried forward from AA is that those of us who struggle with compulsive behaviors or addictions suffer from “ an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind “.

What happens is when we’re successfully abstaining from our substance or activity of choice, and we’re feeling strong, out of the blue a thought will occur to us to take that drink, or drug, or to act out in the way we do. And if we sit there and entertain that thought long enough, it turns into action. This process is actually nothing new. Over 2000 years ago Jesus’ brother James wrote about it:

“But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.” —James 1:14-15

And that’s exactly what happens to us.  We dwell on that thought too long, and our desire eventually gives birth to action. And once we take action and put that substance in our system – whether its alcohol, drugs, sugar, or whatever—it sets off a physical craving for more of that substance or activity and we’re caught in a cycle.

I really like the analogy that the physical part of our disease is an “allergy of the body”. Because its exactly like allergies; For example, some people can rub their face in a cat’s fur and it doesn’t bother them a bit. (Although I’m not sure who would ever want to do that!)  But for me, I’m allergic to cats and if I did that I’d be in a world of hurt. Same thing with alcohol; some people can have a couple beers, no problem. But alcoholics have an “allergy” to alcohol, so for them, a couple beers turns into a world of hurt. Same thing with food—especially this time of year. Some people can have one Christmas cookie and they’re good. But for food addicts—because of their body’s “allergy” to sugar or processed foods—one Christmas cookie leads to a dozen.

So we can see how the mental obsession—dwelling on a thought too long—triggers the physical obsession.  So what triggers the mental obsession?  Why do those thoughts occur to us in the first place? Why is it that some people fall off the wagon and return to their addiction, even when they don’t want to—even after they’ve been clean for years?

Well, we know its not physical cravings. It’s been medically proven that after a few days of not drinking, alcohol is completely processed out of the body. Same thing with drugs, and even sugar. After a period of abstinence, the substance is physically worked out of the body.

I’ve actually experienced that process personally. Last year I was diagnosed with diabetes, which I’ve written more about here . Fortunately, it was caught early enough that I had a chance to try and manage it with lifestyle changes. The day after I got the news, I started on my brand new low-sugar, low-carb lifestyle of eating, which I referred to at the time as the “no more happiness” diet. (Its actually turned out to be awesome!)  I suffered a good amount of physical cravings the first two weeks. Then one day at work I was walking past a bunch donuts some evil salesman had left in the break room when I realized that I no longer physically craved sugar. Don’t get me wrong, I still wanted to eat a donut! But I realized I wanted the emotional payoff more than I physically craved the sugar and lard.

So physical cravings are not the primary reason we slip.  What about the mental obsession? Well, if you’ve been in Celebrate Recovery or any 12-step program for a while you know that, for most people who are actively working the steps, over time the mental obsession dissipates. I remember my wife Deb coming home from her first Overeater’s Anonymous meeting. She was so excited and she said. “They told me that I will actually lose my obsession with food.” Then she added, “I don’t believe them!” But sure enough, she followed the program and within a month or two her mental obsession had dissipated.

So the primary reason isn’t mental, either. What is it? The fact is, we have a spiritual problem, and the only cure is God.

This is something that AA recognizes well. The AA Big Book promises,

“When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.” —AA Big Book

In other words, the mental and physical factors of addictive and compulsive behaviors are put into remission AFTER the “spiritual malady” is overcome.

To prepare us to take an honest inventory of ourselves, let’s take a look at two verses.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.” —Psalm 139:24-24

Here’s what so interesting to me about this verse. We aren’t asking for God’s help so He can know whether we’ve done anything wrong, or because He needs a clearer picture of what we’re about. God already knows it all; every secret we have, every lie we’ve told, every dirty thought we’ve entertained. He knows it all and He loves us anyway. So the reason we pray these words for our own benefit; because  there is no healing or forgiveness without confession .  If that scares you a little bit—having to confess everything—I want you to know the Bible doesn’t say, “If we confess our sins, God will judge us unworthy and smite us in anger.” Not at all. It says,

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

That’s amazing. So, as Christians, we get to say, “Alright God, I’m coming clean. Here’s all my junk, my sin, my lust, my stupid choices, my mistakes, my character flaws, my shame, my fear. This is my inventory and I admit it all. Do with me what You will.”

God looks at it all and says to us, “I forgive you.” And not just that. This verse says He also purifies us; our sins are not just forgiven, they’re removed. They’re gone and we’re made clean in God’s eyes. God makes us righteous when we confess.  For those who aren’t quite sure what to think about Jesus just yet, let me share some good news with you. Jesus Himself says:

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

There’s a phrase that jumps out at me in this verse:  All of you . Jesus uses it twice. That’s amazing because it literally means there is no one too lost, no one too messed up, no one too drunk, or dirty or dishonest that Jesus won’t accept them. Everyone is invited to rest in Him.  That’s awesome news!

So let’s take a look at the questions we can ask ourselves to help us build our spiritual inventory list. We’re going to look specifically at four areas of our lives.

1. Our Minds

Here are some questions we can ask ourselves to help us build our inventory list in this area.

1. How am I guarding my mind? Did you know two thoughts can’t occupy the same space in our mind at the same time? What if we started choosing our thoughts in the same way we choose our clothes for the day?

2. What am I feeding my mind? Here we’re talking about movies, music, websites… Are we on a mental diet of junk food or health food?  This isn’t about a legalistic set of religious rules we are required to follow. (And I’m certainly not the guy that’s going to tell you rock music is evil and you need to delete your Foo Fighter’s playlist.) I’m just talking about being mature; understanding that our ears and our eyes are gateways into our minds. And we get to control what we let in.

“Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable–if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise–dwell on these things.”

3. Am I regularly seeking out the truth in God’s Word? Spending time with God and reading His word is a big part of keeping our minds healthy and grounded in truth. If we make that a daily discipline we will never regret it.

“A wise person is hungry for truth, while a fool feeds on trash.” —Proverbs 15:14

2. Our Bodies

Here are some questions we can ask ourselves in the area of our bodies:

1. How have I mistreated my body? Have you abused alcohol, drugs, food, sex? Our bodies are the place from which we, as humans, do life. So mistreating our bodies is sort of like setting our own house on fire. Except unlike burning our house down, we can’t go find a new body to live in if we destroy the one God gave us.

2. What activities or habits have caused harm to my physical health? Many of us say that we have the right to do whatever we want to our own bodies. We somehow think this is freedom, but we’re really becoming a slave to our own desires. And—as many of us here in this room know—it’s not long until those desires are running our lives.

“For those who live according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace.” —Romans 8:5-6

3. Our Families

Here are some questions we can ask ourselves in the area of our families:

1. Have I mistreated anyone in my family?

Have you physically or emotionally mistreated a family member? Do your words build up or tear down those around you? As much as it depends on us, we need to live at peace with our families. If that just isn’t possible, or if you don’t feel safe there, let Celebrate Recovery be your family. Not just emotionally, but invite us over for Christmas, cook us a nice meal. But seriously, that’s the kind of deep relationships you can build here in CR; as deep as family.

2. Do I hold resentment against anyone in my family? Sometimes it’s easier to admit our resentments against a stranger or co-worker than someone in our own family. So denial can be a pretty thick fog to break through in this area. It takes rigorous honesty, and it might require a lot of digging and peeling away of layers to start uncovering things. But it starts with being honest with ourselves.

3. To whom do I owe amends? Right now, on this inventory step, all we’re doing is identifying our part in any damaged relationships. We’re creating a list. We won’t actually act on this step until we get to Principle 6. For right now, just ask yourself who might be on your amends list.

4. What is the family secret I have been denying? What is the “elephant” in the middle of your family’s living room that everyone knows but no one talks about? That’s the family secret. Remember, you can’t heal a wound by saying it’s not there.

4. Our Church Life

Here are some questions we can ask ourselves in the area of our church:

1. Have I mistreated my church family? Have you spread gossip about anyone? Have you talked behind someone’s back? Have you shunned someone?

2. Have I neglected my church responsibilities? Are you volunteering, plugging in, learning, growing in your faith? Are you helping others in your church?

3. Have U discouraged my family’s support of our church? If you aren’t ready to get involved in your church, that’s your decision. But don’t stop the rest of your family from experiencing the joy and support of a church family.

So there’s the list. Like I said, these are some tough questions, and we have to get honest when we answer them if we want to get better. But the temporary hardship of doing our inventory (and doing it right) is the pathway to peace in our lives.  And I’ll close by sharing one additional piece of good news:

“No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool.” —Isaiah 1:18

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3 thoughts on “ A Spiritual Inventory ”

August 15, 2018 4:42 pm

I think you have a typo. It says goof news I think you meant good news. I loved this thought blog regarding spiritual inventory. So thoughtful and well explained. Thank you

August 15, 2018 7:36 pm

Thanks for the kind words, Jania! And for pointing out that typo I missed. (I’ve fixed it.)

April 6, 2023 2:42 pm

The church I’m apart of has Celebrate Recovery. My sister whose husband committed suicide was part of a Celebrate Recovery program at her church. She shared with me how helpful it was for her to just be able to talk about what’s going on inside of her as she worked through the grief of the suicide of her husband. I’ve experience several 12 step format groups myself in my decades long journey to find freedom from addictions. I experienced a lot of help in those groups. With all of that as background in an attempt to help you understand where I’m coming from, I’d like to share briefly one aspect of my journey. Long story short, I ultimately landed in EMDR counseling where I discovered I had PTSD from unresolved childhood trauma. I landed there after God showed me one specific memory of an event that I needed to deal with. After trying to resolve the memory in what I refer to as “the church way” of “realizing something wrong is there, repenting, accepting forgiveness, accepting God’s love for me, etc.” – but not “getting resolution to addiction” – I sought counseling with a professional out of desperation. I was shocked to discover that I exhibited PTSD symptoms as I’m not a veteran. It never occurred to me that PTSD could be an issue even after decades of struggling. I even thought the counselor was wrong in his diagnosis of PTSD and believed his method would not work or do any good. I hung on and kept paying the $110/hour counseling rate hoping for results because the counselor told me that I wouldn’t understand this until later. When he led me through the specific memory and guided me to “the problem”, then asked a critical question which helped me realize why I believed God could never love me – I can only describe the next thing that happened as a rebirth or a prison break. The counselor told me the change I would experience in my life going forward could not really be explained because it would be “a change of everything”. My life had been build on a lie – the lie was gone now and replaced with the truth. Everything changed. My purpose in writing to you here is only to tell you what the counselor said when I asked him if he would come speak to my church about what happened. He said “they’re not ready for it” and refused the invitation. When I asked him why all my attempts failed up to now, he said – because you were trying to apply solutions when you didn’t even know what the problem was. I know my experience is not directly applicable to everyone’s experiences in every way. But I do believe it is important to ask the question, “What is the problem?” – or “What happened to you?”. The counselor led me through an assessment of memories where pain was associated with the memory. Because God had shown me a specific memory where much pain was involved – I put that on top of the list. It was during the reprocessing of that memory that I saw “the problem”. I hope in sharing my story that you can relate to it in some way. Blessings! Kevin

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If you're a student in search of short essay ideas for Independence Day, you've come to the right place. Here, you'll find a selection of short essays that can serve as inspiration for your own writing.

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Essay 1: the importance of independence day.

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-attacks-on-walzs-military-record-by-vance-and-other-republicans

Fact-checking attacks on Walz’s military record by Vance and other Republicans

This fact check originally appeared on PolitiFact .

Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance sought to negatively frame the 24-year military career of newly minted Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, Minnesota’s current governor.

“When the United States Marine Corps, when the United States of America, asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it,” Vance  said  Aug. 7 at the Shelby, Michigan, police department. Vance  served  as a combat correspondent for the U.S. Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007 and deployed to Iraq for six months in 2005 but  did not experience combat .

Vance continued, “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, do you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him. … I think it’s shameful.” At a different event, Vance used the phrase “ stolen valor ” to describe his accusations against Walz.

On X, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, made a  claim similar to Vance’s,  writing, “Tim Walz TURNED HIS BACK on the soldiers in his unit because he was TOO afraid to deploy to Iraq!!”

READ MORE: Democrats defend Walz’s military record as Vance, GOP begin attacks

Walz retired from the Minnesota National Guard in May 2005. He had submitted retirement paperwork five to seven months beforehand, Fox News  reported , citing the Minnesota National Guard.

In March 2005, Walz’s battalion had been notified about a possible deployment to Iraq within two years, Walz’s congressional campaign said in a  news release  that month, citing the National Guard Public Affairs Office. The Minnesota National Guard said the battalion then received an official order about mobilizing for deployment to Iraq in July 2005, after Walz retired.

Vance’s statement misleads by distorting the timeline. Walz had not been “asked by his country to go to Iraq,” as Vance said. He had been given a two-year window for a potential, not definite, deployment. And the official deployment notice came after Walz’s retirement.

Walz has said since before his Army retirement that he left to run for Congress. He filed his candidacy paperwork in February 2005, before the March 2005 notification about the potential deployment.

This is not a new line of attack. When Walz ran for a second term as Minnesota governor in 2022, his Republican opponent, who did not serve in the U.S. military,  criticized  Walz for leaving the National Guard before his unit deployed to Iraq.

Two retired Minnesota National Guard command sergeant majors also  penned a paid letter  to a Minnesota newspaper in 2018 claiming Walz “embellished and selectively omitted facts” about his military service. This letter resurfaced on X after Vice President Kamala Harris tapped Walz as her running mate. Other  guard   members  who served with Walz have defended him.

Walz’s spokesperson in the Minnesota governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment, and the Harris-Walz campaign declined to comment.

When reached by  The New York Times , a Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson didn’t provide new details about Walz’s retirement timeline and instead highlighted Walz’s record advocating for veterans and their families.

When contacted for comment, Vance’s campaign spokesperson sent links to the 2005 Walz campaign news release about the potential deployment and several news stories that quote former members of Walz’s battalion who were upset with him for not deploying to Iraq.

Walz’s military timeline

Walz enlisted in the Nebraska National Guard on April 8, 1981, two days after his 17th birthday. In 1996, Walz transferred to the Minnesota National Guard, where he served in the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery until he retired May 16, 2005, Army Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, Minnesota National Guard’s state public affairs officer, told PolitiFact in a statement.

During his service, Walz responded to floods and tornadoes, specialized in heavy artillery and was recognized for his proficiency in sharpshooting and hand grenades, Minnesota Public Radio  reported .

On Aug. 3, 2003, Walz and his battalion were deployed to Italy to support U.S. operations in Afghanistan under Operation Enduring Freedom. Walz returned to Minnesota in April 2004, Augé said.

WATCH: A look at Walz’s record and how he could bolster Democratic support in the Midwest

In May 2005, Walz, then 41, officially retired from the Minnesota National Guard to campaign for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District. He  filed  his statement of candidacy paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Feb. 10, 2005. Walz was elected to Congress in November 2006.

Al Bonnifield, who served with Walz in the Minnesota National Guard, told  Minnesota Public Radio  in 2018 that Walz weighed his retirement from the guard and congressional run “very heavy.” Bonnifield reiterated this to  The Washington Post  on Aug. 7.

“Would the soldier look down on him because he didn’t go with us? Would the common soldier say, ‘Hey, he didn’t go with us, he’s trying to skip out on a deployment?’ And he wasn’t,” Bonnifield said in 2018.

Doug Julin, who served as a more senior command sergeant major in Walz’s battalion, said Walz went over his head to get retirement approval before the unit’s deployment was official, because Julin would have “analyzed it and challenged him,” the  New York Post  reported Aug. 8.

Others who served in Walz’s battalion have said he “ditched” them and his actions were “dishonorable,” Fox News  reported .

Battalion’s deployment to Iraq

Walz’s unit received an “alert order” for mobilization to Iraq on July 14, 2005, Army Lt. Col. Ryan Rossman, Minnesota National Guard’s director of operations, told PolitiFact in a statement.

The unit received the official Department of the Army mobilization order Aug. 14, 2005, and mobilized Oct. 12, 2005, Rossman said.

The unit deployed to Iraq in March 2006 and was deployed for 19 months, according to an October 2007  congressional resolution .

The two retired Minnesota National Guard command sergeant majors who wrote the 2018 letter said the battalion received a “warning order” in early 2005 “to prepare to be mobilized for active duty for a deployment to Iraq.” They did not specify the warning letter’s date. Augé of the Minnesota National Guard told PolitiFact the agency doesn’t have information about any unofficial orders that might have been sent to the battalion.

An  archived March 20, 2005, press release  from Walz’s congressional campaign website said the National Guard Public Affairs Office announced March 17, 2005, “a possible partial mobilization of roughly 2,000 troops from the Minnesota National Guard.” The announcement said a portion of Walz’s battalion could be mobilized to serve in Iraq within the next two years.

Walz said in his campaign’s press release, “As Command Sergeant Major I have a responsibility not only to ready my battalion for Iraq, but also to serve if called on. I am dedicated to serving my country to the best of my ability, whether that is in Washington, D.C., or in Iraq. I don’t want to speculate on what shape my campaign will take if I am deployed, but I have no plans to drop out of the race.”

Although Walz had been  promoted  in 2004 to command sergeant major, he retired in 2005 as a master sergeant,  one rank below  command sergeant major, “for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy,” Augé said.

Joseph Eustice, a 32-year military veteran who served in and led the same guard unit as Walz, told  The New York Times  and  NewsNation  in Aug. 7 interviews that when Walz decided to retire in May 2005, their unit had heard rumors of a potential deployment to Iraq, but had not received official orders.

Vance said, “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, do you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him.”

Vance’s statement ignores that Walz’s unit was not officially ordered to go to Iraq until July 2005, two months after Walz officially retired.

After 24 years of military service, Walz said he retired from the Minnesota National Guard in May 2005 to run for Congress. He had submitted retirement paperwork five to seven months beforehand. He filed candidacy paperwork in February 2005.

READ MORE: 5 things to know about Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ VP pick

There’s an element of truth in Vance’s statement because in March 2005, before Walz officially retired, his battalion was notified of possible deployment to Iraq within two years. Walz was aware at the time of his retirement that deployment could be possible and one of his fellow guard members described Walz’s retirement decision as “very heavy.”

But the March 2005 notification gave a time frame of two years for a possible — not definite — deployment that would not occur immediately, which is the way Vance’s statement framed it.

At PolitiFact, the burden of proof is on the speaker, Vance, who did not provide details to support his statement. We rate it Mostly False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

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Tim Walz's military career: What we know and what we don't know

• Sen. JD Vance and other Republicans say Gov. Tim Walz is misrepresenting his military background.
• Some also say that Walz retired and ran for office to avoid active combat.
• Here's what we know about Walz's military service, which spanned over two decades.

When Vice President Kamala Harris chose Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate, his military history seemed like an asset .

But now, Republicans are using his military tenure as a point of attack. They have resurfaced claims that Walz misrepresented his military history, retired from the Army to avoid fighting in the Iraq War, and broke promises to his unit.

Walz served in the military for more than 24 years, in both the Nebraska and Minnesota National Guards, according to documents shared with Business Insider by Army Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, a public affairs officer at the Minnesota National Guard.

He retired in 2005 to run for Congress. About two months later, after his retirement, his unit, the Minnesota National Guard's 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, was ordered to mobilize.

Walz's opponent in the presidential race, Sen. JD Vance, says Walz left the military to avoid active combat. During a campaign event on Wednesday, Vance accused his opponent of "stolen valor."

Other Republicans are piling on. In a video posted to X , Rep. Mike Waltz, a Republican from Florida and a veteran, compared the situation to a star quarterback leaving his team before the Super Bowl.

Republicans have also accused Walz of misrepresenting his rank and experience in the Army. Walz presents himself in videos, which the Harris campaign is circulating, as a "retired command sergeant major" who advocated for stricter gun control policies by arguing that civilians should not have access to weapons "that I carried in war."

"He has not spent a day in a combat zone," Vance said on Wednesday. "I'd be ashamed if I was him and I lied about my military service like he did."

These criticisms aren't new. When Walz first ran for governor in 2018, two retired Army veterans posted a letter on Facebook saying he had "embellished" his military career and had ditched his unit just before it was deployed to Iraq.

That's not the whole story, however, and some veterans have defended Walz.

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"Hey @JDVance, did you forget what the USMC taught you about respect?" Sen. Mark Kelly, a Navy combat veteran, said on X. "Tim Walz spent DECADES in uniform. You both deserve to be thanked for your service. Don't become Donald Trump. He calls veterans suckers and losers and that is beneath those of us who have actually served."

Here's everything we know about Walz's time in the US Army.

Walz served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades

At the age of 17, Walz enlisted in the Nebraska Army National Guard, where he served as an infantry senior sergeant and administrative specialist. In 1996, he transferred to the Minnesota National Guard and held various field artillery positions, including firing battery chief, operations sergeant, first sergeant, and command sergeant major.

In 2003, Walz was sent abroad as part of Operation Enduring Freedom , stage one of America's war on terror, which primarily took place in Afghanistan. He was on active duty in Italy until 2004 but he never went to Afghanistan or Iraq.

Records show that Walz submitted paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission on February 10, 2005. A month later, in March 2005, the National Guard announced the potential partial mobilization of troops from the Minnesota National Guard. In a statement from that time, Walz said he didn't know if his artillery unit would be mobilized but said he did not intend to drop his election bid.

"As command sergeant major I have a responsibility not only to ready my battalion for Iraq, but also to serve if called on," he said in a press release from March 2005. "I am dedicated to serving my country to the best of my ability, whether that is in Washington, DC or Iraq."

A couple of months later, on May 16, 2005, Walz retired from the Army. It's not clear when he first filed for retirement. In August, the Army ordered his former unit to mobilize. A few months later, it was deployed to Iraq.

During his decades in the Army, Walz never faced active combat

Though Walz said in his defense of stricter gun control policies that "we can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war" in a widely circulated video, he never saw active combat during his time in the Army. He has never been in a conflict zone or been to war.

During his service, Walz helped respond to disasters like floods and tornadoes. His only time abroad was his stint in Italy. While running for Minnesota governor in 2018, Walz acknowledged to Minnesota Public Radio that he never faced combat firsthand.

"I know that there are certainly folks that did far more than I did," Walz told the outlet. "I willingly say that I got far more out of the military than they got out of me, from the GI Bill to leadership opportunities to everything else."

Walz achieved the rank of command sergeant major

According to his biography on the Minnesota government website  and public comments, Walz has identified   himself as a "retired command sergeant major." ABC News reported that Walz earned the rank, which is the highest enlisted one for his unit, in September 2004 .

The Harris campaign website identified him that way until Wednesday afternoon. It now says that Walz served in the Army, "rising to the rank of Command Sergeant Major."

That's because although Walz did hold the title at one point, he retired as a master sergeant, a lower rank. The Army reduced his rank in May 2005, when Walz retired, because he never finished the required coursework for the US Army Sergeants Major Academy, according to Minnesota National Guard records.

To retire as a command sergeant major, Walz would also have had to hold the title for three years.

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